Our Souls At Night
by cookies. x3
Summary: What the hell is Doom's problem? Why can't he just leave her alone? Natasha Stark doesn't understand the world anymore when Victor von Doom starts showing up at every corner and she finds herself maybe not as angry as she should be. And what is wrong with Spangles? Rated M for now to be sure.
1. Chapter 1

****Hi, hello, good evening, morning, night. Your choice :)****

 **First, because it's the most important thing today, Happy birthday my dear wolfsprinzessin . Love you and miss you and I dedicate this to you because we won't see each other on this fine day. Have a wonderful day!**

 **Second, now that personal matters are settled, this is a mixture of comic and MCU. Would be helpful if you read Invincible Iron Man from 2015 but that's not obligatory.**

 **Yeah, so, I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think! :3**

 **Right, nearly forgot that again: As much as I wish, I don't own Marvel or any related characters. Title is taken from a Jane Fonda movie (though it has absolutely nothing to do with this, merely watched it while drafting out the plot).  
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CHAPTER 1

'What have you got for me, Stark?'

The Captain's voice sounds over the coms, destroying the silence of the battle. Natasha fires up the repulsor rays of her boots a little more to gain more altitude. Jarvis scans the environment. 'Down the next block are two more squadrons of Doombots. No sign of Vicky as of yet, neither can Jarvis detect any magic. Romanov, three more are coming your direction.', she informs the others.

Natasha can almost see Steve nod to himself. It's his own fault he didn't let her wire Jay into his suit as well. 'Good. We have the ground covered. Try to find Doom, that has priority.'

Nat huffs out a laugh. 'Nope, no chance, Spangles. There are too many and they are better armed than the others. Jarvis detects the heat signatures of flame throwers.' That's new. She wonders where Doom got that idea from.

Rogers sighs, knowing it's pointless to argue. Without Thor around, the team will need every air support they can get and Fury had made a point of not getting involved to not risk an international incident. So it's up to the Avengers to smash the robots who threaten the innocent citizens of New York. It's more of a tiresome business than a real threat and apart from some damage done to parking cars and some smashed windows, no real damage has been done.

This little game has been going on for months. Though Doom had claimed to have reformed, he still occasionally lets his Doombots roam the streets right in front of Avengers Tower but it seems to be more of an exercise, a reminder that he is still around and no hero like them and isn't meant to bring New York under his reign. At least they all hope that this is no prelude to an outright war.

Since the incident with Madame Masque some months ago Natasha likes to give him the benefit of the doubt. Doom had claimed they could and would be good friends in time. He had even given up his claim on Latveria, though how long that resolution will last, she doesn't want to guess.

How the super villain transformed into a simple nuisance that refuses to leave her alone for five minutes is a mystery for itself. It can't just have been about his change of appearance. In public Doom still dons his metal mask though Natasha had seen clear prove herself that he doesn't need it anymore.

Natasha zooms off to where Jarvis had detected the two squadrons of Doombots to help the others end this battle rather quickly. It's nice to train out in the streets and not just confided in a training room (Natasha is very proud of them but still, the space will always be limited). Plus she is dodging a meeting with the board which Pepper had insisted she would have to attend, so the brunette surely won't complain that she misses at least three hours of boring conversation about numbers all of them are well aware of. And Pepper can't even complain because Natasha has the perfect excuse. The others need her help in defeating one of the most powerful villains that ever walked this world. She can't possibly find a fault in that. No need to tell her about Doomsy's new status.

The robots march down the street in formation. Some cars are on fire which supports the thesis of the flame throwers. As soon as she shows up, the Doombots look up and start to fire. On the next roof, Natasha can make out Hawkeye's looming form, Rogers is on the ground, coming in from behind.

Natasha dodges the blasts of blue energy, then gives some shots from her part. Two Doombots blow up immediately, then a green glimmer encompasses them.

'Traces of Doctor Doom's magic detected. He has formed a protective shield around his Doombots.', Jarvis tells her while the next repulsor rays are deflected from the robots.

'Where is he?' Natasha grits her teeth. The repulsors won't go through and since Rogers is too close she can't try other weaponry without endangering the blond.

'Tracing.' Jarvis draws up a map, a red dot blinks not a hundred feet away from their current location. She swipes the map away and concentrates back on the robots. Barton's arrows don't fare much better than her weapons. Rogers' shield slashes through the Doombots though he nearly gets roasted by them.

Fortunately Jarvis had been able to get a good many readings of Doom's mystical energies or whatnots so he can triangulate the point of origin rather well.

Rogers swears rather loudly over the com when the flame throwers only miss him narrowly.

'I think I got a reading on Doomsy.', Natasha lets the others know. She doesn't really want to leave her team with these things alone. Though it is no real attack, the robots get better with each time.

'Go, we can deal with them.', Hawkeye lets her know though his arrows still show no response. He glides down to the ground to help the other two with his hand to hand combat weapons as the long distance ones prove futile.

Natasha takes that as her cue and flies towards the location of the bright red dot. The rooftop is empty though. Maybe he had found a way around being located again? She is just about to ask Jarvis to confirm the location when she hears it.  
'Well, hello.' The voice sounds oddly mechanic. Natasha turns around to find the source. The metal mask is firmly in place but she can hear the smirk nonetheless. Victor von Doom leans casually against the wall behind him. She is more used to his unmodulated voice so he sounds kinda strange. Not that he ever sounded anything else but strange.

Natasha eyes him warily but he makes no move. So, whatever. She deactivated the coms and flips up the face plate. He could have killed her, probably all of them. He is playing but not to win. What he's playing at though, who can fathom to understand the way of an ex super villain?

Doom looks over his shoulder, but doesn't follow her example.

'Enjoying the view?', she asks pointedly. Natasha looks down to the streets where Rogers and Romanov clean up amongst the rest of the robots. At least they have figured out a way around the force fields.

'I do.' The hidden smile is audible. 'It was such a boring Tuesday, was it not? I thought we might all need a break from that.' Doom steps closer to the ledge and looks down. ' It was very entertaining, don't you think?'

Natasha rolls her eyes. 'What's the point in all of this then?', she asks though it is pointless.

'No point, my dear. Mere boredom. I do believe I wasn't the only one.' He glances back to where she stands.

'You didn't even try.', she states, resting her hands on her hips. Doom is getting more frustrating with every meeting, that much is clear. Natasha wishes he would just attack her so she'd have a good reason for blasting him from that stupid roof. Of course he had made no move in that direction. Stupid rules for heroes, she thinks, can't just attack an unarmed man. An unarmed man nonetheless who would claim to have nothing to do with any of this.

Doom shrugs. 'No, I fancy I didn't.', he says airily. 'It was more like.. flexing a muscle. I need my Doombots to be the best they can be to be of use to anyone. But you are correct, Miss Stark. No new weapon systems though I wish I would have seen your face after they activated the shield. It would have been too easy without them I believe.' It takes her a second to recognize the cracking as a laugh.

Nat sighs and shakes her head. 'You want them to be of help?' First he wants to help, now he wants evil robots who attack cities to help. This can't get any more messed up. It's a waste of energy yelling at Doomsy because of these stupid plans. She had tried. Like often.

'If you can take them out in mere seconds, any super villain deserving that name surely could as well.'

'Then why lead them to battle against us?', Nat demands to know.

Doom merely shrugs, Natasha fancies she could see a smile playing around the corners of his mouth if it wouldn't be for that dreadful mask.

Down in the streets the last robots fall. The rest of the team looks around but can't spot her and Doom on the high building. Natasha steps back from the ledge and flips down her face plate.

'Aren't you going to arrest me?', he asks when she turns away from him and prepares to leave.

'Why should I? You still got your diplomatic status. And you haven't really endangered anyone while saving me from a boring meeting. Furthermore, I doubt even I have a prison yet which could hold you.', she adds with a smirk. That she is working on one, she better keeps to herself.

Doom huffs. 'That may be true. But I am no longer dictator of Latveria.'

Natasha shrugs. 'The public doesn't really know yet. Your ban of reporters kinda keeps them from finding out on the evening news.'

A low chuckle leaves the metal mask. The sound should be hollow but also draws a smile to Nat's face which she is glad is being covered by her own facial mask.

'Good day to you, Miss Stark.'

'Natasha.', she automatically corrects. Why he insists on calling her by her last name whenever she is in her armor but deliberately uses her first name when encountering her out of it, even Victor von Doom probably couldn't explain. Must have something to do with self preservation though Nat can't really endanger him as long as he has his magic skills to block her blows.

'Of course, Natasha. Greetings to your friends.' He inclines his head.

'I'd rather not. I'll send you the bill.'

She hears him laughs before a green sphere encompasses the man and she finds herself completely alone on the rooftop moments later. Natasha sighs and activates her repulsors to carry her down to the street. Rogers and the assassins had finished the last robots by now.

Natasha won't lie, she kind of enjoys the little banter with von Doom. It's refreshing to know she is talking to a genius who will always understand what she is talking about and where she doesn't need to repeat every other sentence and explain every third word. It's the best about fighting Doom. At least it doesn't get boring.

'He fled.', Natasha says as soon as she lands near Rogers.

Steve isn't surprised by this. 'Was to be expected. Did he say anything?'

'Just the usual. You really think I'd still be listening after all these years?', she asks pointedly.

He merely shrugs. Doom usually doesn't stay around for a chat. 'Whatever. At least no one got hurt. Most people in this area are out, working. Something is up.' And that's why he is the Captain. He always gets strategies better than anyone else. Doom had stayed hidden for now, hadn't shown around his new face nor his changed alliances, so Natasha hadn't mentioned the hand he had in the Madame Masque debacle. 'That's the fourth attack on just three months. He is up to something.'

Natasha can't help but agree wholeheartedly. She had her suspicions all along ever since Victor proposed to help her (more like forced his way into her business). There is some grand scheme to be played, some greater price to be claimed.

'SHIELD is already on their way for clean up. Showers, med check, then debriefing in half an hour in the Tower.', Cap directs them. Natasha sighs rather loud and hopes one day he might get the hint, but today she has no such luck.

'Need a lift?' Natasha holds out her hand for Tasha who accepts it with that little trademark smile of hers when you aren't sure if she is grateful or just thinking of away to tear you apart in a really fun way.

Barton and Rogers can catch a ride with Coulson if they must and the Tower isn't too far off either. But the girls must stick together, especially when one of the girls is an assassin and the other might be scared by her. Natasha takes off, holding on tightly to Tasha in the meantime and within minutes they land on the terrace of Nat's penthouse where she lets Tasha down to let Jarvis strip her out of the suit.

'Did you get hurt?', Tasha asks as Nat while the brunette peels off the suit. She has to remind herself that her friends still believe Victor to be a villain who would want to see them all dead. She isn't so sure herself that is not true.

'Nah, I'm fine.'

'You should still get checked over by Bruce.', she insists.

'Not necessary, the blasts of the robots weren't good for the circuits but I am unharmed, I assure you. No need for a medical check.' No need to tell her either that she always skips the medical check if the fight hasn't left Natasha unconscious.

The fear that the arc reactor could stop working or that her breathlessness is an indicator to other, far worse, damage done to her heart, is a constant one in her life. She trusts Bruce but still, she prefers to choose herself who sees her naked and having her arc stared at isn't one of her favorite pastimes.

'It's a shame we didn't catch him or at least questioned him. Since that incident with you and him in San Francisco Doom has been strange now.', Tasha observes. She had found out on her own about Doom's involvement from whoever and however. Sometimes her spy abilities are even creepier than the rest. Fortunately even Tasha knows only half of the story and only what happened in the Mary-Jane's club.

'Has he ever not been? He probably had his own reasons to help me back then.'

'There must be some bigger scheme still. It was as if he wasn't trying very hard.'

Natasha hums noncommittal, then heads off for the bathroom. It hadn't been a tedious fight but her suit could certainly need an upgrade of the air conditioning system. She is used the weather of Malibu but even New York in the early summer experienced in a thick metal armor can be warm. She is quite glad when the undersuit is gone. Finally she's got the time to reflect on Doom's latest scheme.

Jarvis far too soon reminds her of the upcoming meeting with the rest of her team. Natasha sighs, then turns the shower off. Who needs these debriefings anyway? It's just sitting around with Agent and Cyclops, hearing the same story over and over again until even the most fantastic and interesting attack is dull and boring.

As expected the meeting takes an eternity during which Natasha sees herself forced to drink copious amounts of the worst coffee in the human history and having to retell her encounter with Doom not only three, but four times, which each time did the speculations about the meaning of his words climb higher. She thinks shortly of asking them if they would like the footage recorded by Jarvis so she could finally go, but ultimately decides against it less any lie about his exact phrasing and her exact behavior might be discovered.

After the meeting Natasha takes her phone out and finds that she has four missed calls. That means Pepper isn't as mad as she could be. She had probably seen the attack on the news.

'Who wants to go out, and grab some dinner?', Nat asks while typing an apology message and the promise to call her later.

Bruce, who had just been in the side line declines immediately, Tasha and Barton have some unfinished business with Agent, which leaves Nat and Spangles.

The blond has left Captain America behind, now he is simply Steve. He smiles expectantly.

'So, what do you feel like?', Natasha asks him when they make their way to the elevator. She is still typing away on her phone. There are several thoughts about her latest suit of armor which she would need to get into. Later, and most certainly not tonight. Meaning most certainly that by the end of the night the list would be worked through.

'I don't know, choose what you want.' Always the diplomat.

'Alright, Thai it is.'


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Natasha doesn't bother to call beforehand or to tell Steve that his outfit would stick out like a sore thumb in the place she has in mind for their 'team dinner'. Because why should she? They are Avengers, they just saved the city a few scant hours ago from destruction by Victor von Doom (at least according to everyone else, no need to point out Vicky was just having some fun), for Christ's sake. The first person to actually complain about her jeans and tee would be at fault for her buying that place and firing that insolent person. This hero business has got to have some upsides.

The other Avengers look after them, probably jealous of the nice dinner they are missing, then the elevator doors close behind them. Steve is trying not to eye the phone in Nat's hand too much or too obvious. It of course bothers him to no end that she hadn't immediately put it away as soon as she was out of Fury's sight. Nat doesn't really mind, she just texts her new driver to pick them up from the Tower.

Happy had quit some months ago as her chauffeur and bodyguard, claiming people were laughing at him, being the bodyguard of Iron Woman and everything. Furthermore, after he and Pepper got together and she moved rather permanently to Malibu, the headquarters of Stark Industries since Nat decided she liked hanging on the beach better than hanging in a crowded city where everyone just compared her to her father, he had wanted to follow her. According to the red head who had placed her boyfriend as the head of security, the complaints may have risen up by three hundred percent but otherwise Happy is doing a great job. Natasha is happy for them, just sometimes she misses old times when she used to hang out with them every day.

Anyway, back on track. It had taken an eternity to find a new driver, someone willing to keep up with her lifestyle (which means that, yes, she totally has to go to that one specific diner at three thirty am after spending the last forty eight hours on a working binge and someone would have to drive her because despite what others claim, Natasha is very responsible) and someone good enough to, if not replace Happy, at least make up for his loss. And of course someone whom she wouldn't sleep with after three minutes in a car.

Long story short, it's almost impossible to fulfill that requirements.

In the end Pepper chose someone for her. Natasha doesn't want to admit it but she is just looking for an excuse to fire him. With four other people almost constantly around her in the Tower and the latest advances in self-driving cars at her hands, she wouldn't need a driver any longer anyway. Even when dead tired and a menace to the world, there surely would be a way to get just about anywhere.

Natasha hadn't noticed how late it already must be considering they were fighting Doom this morning. The sun has already set when they silently leave the building. Nat still slides some glasses on and hopes that they wouldn't be bothered too much, she really can't deal with paparazzi right now.

Sighing she puts her phone into her bag. 'My driver is going to pick us up in a few minutes.', she informs Steve. He doesn't seem surprised by this information, at least he isn't saying anything. It's not her fault, really, that he takes so long. Happy would have already waited with the car outside. That is totally a reason to fire that guy. Pepper would probably murder her though if Natasha doesn't come up with a better excuse.

'You shouldn't have confronted Doom alone today.' Steve starts immediately with her favorite subject, telling her all about things she's done wrong. Especially since he was the one telling her to go after him.

Natasha rolls her eyes. 'Can we please not talk about work right now? I'm a big girl, I can handle myself.'

Of course Steve would ignore her. 'I'm just saying he is dangerous. He could kill you.', he says as if that would be the worst day of his life. Maybe she should enlighten him some day that the Tower is going to be Avengers property in case of her death.

'And the team couldn't live without me?' She bats her eyelashes at him. 'Really nice of you to say. It's right, without me you'd all be homeless.' Nope, not today at least, Natasha thinks.

'That's not what I meant, Nat.', he sighs. Oh oh. Nat. This must be bad.

She shrugs it off. 'Can we one time not talking about me doing what must be done? I was in no danger that wasn't calculated. Can we keep it at that?'

Reluctantly Steve nods. Natasha knows better than to think this is over.

'So, when is Sam finally coming? His rooms were finished weeks ago.', Natasha changes the topic. Steve had found a new ally for the team. He had lived until now in Washington but after hearing that the Avengers want him to join them, he had immediately agreed to move up to New York. And who wouldn't have? Every little superhero nowadays dreams of joining the by now fabled team, the Falcon is no difference there. Natasha had seen the footage of him, he would make a great addition to the team both as air support and as a scientist.

'He has to pack up his whole life there, say good bye to his friends and family.. That takes time.', Steve defends his new friend.

In that moment a black car pulls by the sidewalk. Frank or Hank or whatever really must have lost no time at all. He is probably seeing his new job in jeopardy already.

'Whatever you say, Cap.'

Steve opens the door for her like a gentleman, then climbs in after her. She quickly gives the driver the address, then turns back to Steve.

'What about your quest for new members?', he asks before she has a chance to say something else. They had yet to decide who would really lead this team so for now Nat and Steve share that responsibility. Which means they at least have to try to get more members in case one or two of their ranks decide to take a break (or go on super special secret spy operations Natasha totally knows nothing about because why would she hack into SHIELD's servers?).

She leans back in her seat. Frank or Hank or whatever had taken one of her smaller cars with just enough space for Steve and her. Natasha sighs. 'There's that dude from Queens who doesn't stop calling.'

'He any good?'

Nat shrugs. 'Can shoot spider webs from his fingers. But he is too young yet. In emergencies we might call him but I suggest we wait till he's of age.' That doesn't mean she couldn't invite him over though and get a sample of that liquid he produces.

She shuffles in her seat when her back starts to protest the renewed sitting period. Given the cramped space she shoves her elbow in Steve's ribs.

'Sorry.', she apologizes. Steve either didn't feel it or doesn't care for he ignores her and stares straight ahead to where the driver weaves his way through the evening traffic. She would definitely have words with the man later (probably rather tomorrow) for bringing such a small car. The super soldier takes up the space of three normal people, at least.

Steve remains silent for the rest of the ride which is fine for Natasha. The whole debriefing and the short night before had tired her out. At least with Spangles it's not bad to just be silent for a while. She takes his silence as it probably is meant, a reminder that he had hoped for additional company. It's not that they are no friends, no, Natasha would trust Steve with her life and oftentimes had done so. It's just that they can't stop bickering when they are in the same room for longer than a few moments.

Eventually the car pulls by the sidewalk and the two Avengers climb out, following their tradition of an after-battle restaurant visit. Just their traitorous friends are missing which is unusual. The restaurant isn't very full given that it is Tuesday evening. They go into the brightly lit room, being immediately recognized by the waiter. Fortunately the most people being able to afford such nice places don't really care who else attends them.

'Miss Stark.', Natasha is greeted. The strange nod of the head looks almost like a mini bow. 'Are you expecting any more guests tonight?'

He is quite composed, better than the last waiter who served them but then again, Steve had chosen that place. 'Just a table for two. The others can see where they stay if they prefer Cyclops' presence from ours.', Nat quips.

'If you would follow me.' The waiter motions further to the back of the restaurant where quieter tables are so they would be able to talk without being listened in by half the people in this room.

She glides into her chair before any of the men can make a move. It's not that she doesn't like being seated but Natasha really is too tired, so she'd rather not see who would shove whom to the side to do her the honor.

'Do you already know what you would like?', they are asked after Steve takes his place on the opposite of Nat. The blond motions to her to choose for him.

She orders some not very spicy food for Steve and her, knowing he is only used to boiled and tasteless food and that her heart doesn't take too kindly to be cooked alive.

Eventually Steve gets over his initial embarrassment to be caught on this close room with a 'dame' and tries to keep up a conversation again about some books she and the team had gotten for him to catch him up on the twenty first century. When he finally gets to his favorite subject apart from work, the fine arts, Natasha couldn't stop him if she tried. She might not like drawings as much as he does, but it's nice to listen to him.

'Will you show them to me someday?', she eventually asks when Steve had been talking about his newest art project for what could have been an hour. He makes a big secret out of his pictures. The team had only seen a handful over the time and all just by accidents, never because Steve actually wanted them to see those, but they all know he barely leaves the house without his sketchbook.

Steve blushes profusely. 'Why would you want to see them? Most aren't any good.', he tells her. It's not very convincing.

Natasha snorts. 'Yeah sure, I've seen your pictures, you really have no talent at all.', she adds sarcastically.

The blond blushes even deeper and keeps his eyes cast down. He mumbles something unintelligible. Nat decides not to press the theme. He will have his reasons for not showing his drawings to her. It's just she knows for a fact that Barton and Romanov have seen his pictures and it kinda sucks to be excluded from their little club. He probably had hoped they would join their group if he'd declare to come with Natasha. Now he's stuck again with the person whom he thinks an arrogant fool. Just because he hadn't said it recently doesn't mean he changed his mind about that.

Nat tries to not take it personal that Steve stares for the best part of dinner either at his food or at a point somewhere over her shoulder.

xXxXx

It's well past noon when Natasha gets woken by Jarvis. Apparently Pepper had been bothering him for some hours as Nat hadn't manages to call her yesterday. Now the redhead is on her way up and Nat curses the AI for not warning her earlier. He takes some immense pleasure in her being literally caught with her pants down just to tell her that he had said so all along. She'd definitely have to check that.

Natasha had gone right from the workshop to her bed, which had been an accomplishment in and on itself, without finding it in her to shower or even get out of the grease stained clothes. Her armor might be ready, she sure is not.

Natasha jumps out of the bed and nearly falls down again when Jarvis draws the blinds to reveal a sunny afternoon. The light blinds her momentarily while she stumbles towards the living room when the elevator doors already open. Natasha combs her fingers through her tousled hair, quickly giving up on the task of looking presentable when she looks at her ruined sweatpants and the dirty, rumpled tank top.

Pepper's heels clicker over the ground. She takes in Nat's appearance but doesn't say anything about it which is not a good sign.

'I am sorry about yesterday.', the brunette blurts out immediately to take the wind out of her sails.

Pepper raises one perfectly manicured eyebrow. 'No, you're not.', she points out. Damn. Okay, the question is not why Pepper knows she doesn't want to go to stupid meetings, but why she doesn't even offer Nat the possibility of pretending she doesn't hate every single second of that with burning intensity. A good friend certainly would.

Natasha's shoulders slump. 'Alright. But I had good reasons.' She had been supposed to attend an important board meeting for which Pepper came to New York.

'That you have indeed.' Natasha barely dares to breathe a sigh of relief. 'I took care of it but we still need to meet with them in the near future. You are still the main stock holder. You could at least pretend that you care about the company.' Pepper has her arms crossed and a look on her face that promises rainy days ahead.

There it is again. Nat rolls her eyes. 'I just design everything and develop new products. Why should anyone assume I care?', she quips. It's maddening to have this conversation yet again.

'It's not me who is doubting your commitment.', Pepper calms her. 'It would still be nice if you would find the time to join us for one meeting.', she asks.

Natasha is still wary. Is this a trap of some sort? 'I wanted to, I swear.'

Pepper sighs. 'The next meeting is in two weeks. Jarvis?'

'Miss is free on that Wednesday.', the AI informs her without missing a beat. Before Natasha can find a reason not to come to the meeting Pepper already has her tablet out and typed away some information. She would have to have words with Jarvis about this matter as soon as Pepper is gone.

'Jarvis, make sure Natasha will be there. Wednesday, two pm. Don't be late.' Pepper pointedly glances at her.

Natasha pouts but the redhead just ignores her, seemingly very pleased with herself for having accomplished this goal. 'Why have I even made you CEO if I still have to take care of stuff like this?'

'Because you know you'd be lost without me.', Pepper says with a smug smile. Unfortunately though it is true. Nat would maybe be able to handle the company but not with her occupation with the Avengers as well.

When Pepper lingers and doesn't rush off to a meeting or inspection, Natasha asks: 'What else?' Because there certainly is something else which they hadn't discussed yet. Just to yell at Nat (well, not quite) Pepper wouldn't have come up here.

'We still need to talk about the payment of the repairs of yesterday's fight. I've got the estimated calculations.' Pepper taps away on her tablet.

Natasha groans. 'Why am I supposed to pay that stuff? I didn't destroy anything that wasn't Doom's property. he can't bill me for shooting at what was first shooting at me.', she complains loudly.

The red head doesn't even flinch. 'You got the resources.'

'I bet SHIELD is swimming in money.' Her wish is resigned. 'How much?'

'Six hundred thousand.'

'Six-?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Is the whole of New York driving fucking Bentleys? Rebuilding this city after the attack of the Chitauri was cheaper. Considering.', she catches herself. 'Damn, Pepper, there was a flying alien whale lying on top of one of the buildings.'

Pepper yet won't hear any of it. 'There has been some substantial damage to some of the buildings. It's charity.'

She does a dismissive wave with the hand. 'Fine, fine. Just send them the damn check. Still can't believe it's that much. We didn't even touch one of the buildings. And, okay, I totally destroyed that one car but it was my life, or the car.', Natasha admits with pride. 'I did that guy a favor with that.', she grumbles. It's far too early in the, a glance to the watch confirms it, afternoon to deal with stuff like this. It's not that she would exactly notice the loss of money and yes, she'd probably feel bad for destroying property of more or less poor people and let them pay for themselves. Still. Why does Pepper even bother her and doesn't just take the money out of the fund meant for things they break?

Natasha stumbles into the kitchen closely followed by Pepper. Coffee is exactly what she needs. How is the redhead even assuming she could deal with this without a proper dose of caffeine?

She pulls open the cupboards and reaches in without looking. When her hand makes contact with nothing else but smooth wooden surfaces, Nat sees herself forced to look up and find the cupboard indeed empty.

'Jarvis, where is my coffee?', she demands to know.

'My sensors registered Agent Barton took it.'

She pauses. 'Did you try to stop him?'

'I did inform him that this is Miss's private stack.'

Natasha groans. Could this day become any worse?

* * *

 **Answer: Yes, it can.**

 **Hi, thanks for reading and following this little story. I took such a long break, you almost thought I forgot about this, didn't you? Alright, I have gotten pretty far in this story so I think it's safe to update it now regularly. With your approval that will be twice a week with chapters approximately this size. For now I picked Saturday and Wednesday, the next weeks will show if that's practicable. Also, if you are rather interested in Stony, keep your eyes open this week for my new (old) project Blank Space! Yay!**

 **So, I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a comment :) Otherwise, till we meet again!**


	3. Chapter 3

****Hello back! Yay, a new chapter! I am honest, I don't even know why I wrote I'll update on Tuesday last week. In my calendar I planned this for Wednesday. So, sorry for the confusion :)****

 **Back to IronDoom! I'd love to hear from you!  
**

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CHAPTER 3

Natasha stomps into the coffee shop right down the corner. That much time there surely must be and dealing with the assembled might and afternoon vigor of the whole Avengers team is far too much to take. Why do they just always need to take her special brand coffee with extra much caffeine? Once more she curses her generosity. Living with too many people under the same roof is more demanding and less fun than she had imagined when she invited the team to live with her. Nat had already told Jarvis to order new coffee (and why didn't he think of it himself? He is supposed to deal exactly with situations like these).

Until then this coffee shop would have to do. At least Pepper can't say now she never goes out. Despite the sunglasses hiding away her face and having her hair down which covers the rest, some people look up from their cups and plates to stare at her, then start to whisper with their table neighbors. Natasha scowls and tries to ignore them.

Sometimes it sucks to be a famous inventor and ex party girl. And to be an Avenger on top of that doesn't make things better. The others of her team have the advantage of being almost unknown to the public though, or hiding behind masks that give them a bit more anonymity in the streets. Natasha is known all around.

At least the line isn't too long, she thinks, trying to cheer herself up. If they bother her with autographs or photos, she will at least be out of here in no time. The whispering gets louder as the queue shortens. Someone steps behind her. Natasha almost groans. Probably one of the fans now dared to get closer.

'Oh my, Stark. Are you following me?' The dark smooth, slightly accented voice is right behind her and though she can already tell who stands right behind her, Natasha still spins around surprised. He merely smirks at her. 'How just did you know I frequent this coffee shop?', he asks.

'Victor! The hell?' Barely she refrains from calling him Doom in public. It would merely result in a mass panic. Nat would like to tell herself that she already suspected something like this but truth be told, he completely surprised her. There he stands, Victor von Doom, ex dictator of Latveria, in a well tailored gray and green suit (not that she would have noticed how well fitting it is), his brown hair stylishly ruffled. His amber eyes are fixed in her, a smile curls his lips. One of the most wanted men on Earth stands right behind her, completely at ease with his position. His face, formerly scarred to such extent he would hide it behind a metal mask, now is slightly tilted upwards, betraying none of his schemes.

'Next please.', Nat hears the woman behind the counter say but can't bring herself to a) react and b) turn her back on Victor.

He motions with his hand to the counter. 'I believe it's your turn.', he says as if it is the most natural thing to do. As if it's the most normal thing to just show up right behind her in a queue in a coffee shop in the middle of Manhattan. His smile grows even wider.

Eventually Natasha turns around, contemplating that he would probably laugh at her for not showing her superiority and looking like she's afraid. Of what even?, she asks herself. If Doom would have planned to kill her publicly, he surely would have done so by now. And if he is still up for it, well than a little coffee wouldn't actually slim her chances of getting away.

She knows the latest Iron Woman suit wouldn't be any help fighting Doomsy, solely on the basis that she can't counter his mystical powers. Yet. Still, the brunette is certain she'd feel a lot better wearing it right now. As long as she's in the armor, talking to that maniac isn't that hard and Natasha feels more at ease than now, no matter that it offers no protection against Doom.

Her eyes scan the menu though she doesn't see a thing. Caffeine, that's all she needs, than she could figure out a way to deal with all of this.

'#.', she orders after a moment of hesitation.

'I'll take a coffee, no sugar, no milk.' When Nat turns with a frown, Doom smiles one of his knowing smiles. 'It's on me.', he offers. Like they would be some colleagues, randomly meeting on the street.

Whatever. Act cool, she tells herself. Nat nods once. 'Just a hundred thousand more and we're even.'

Doom's smile grows but he doesn't comment on the property damage. He knows she can't do much more without raising panic. Can't even mock Doomsy. He attacked the city only yesterday, he is still too fresh on the minds of people to be ignored. Furthermore he seems rather harmless right now, doesn't he?

'What are you doing in New York?', she asks to make conversation and to distract herself. Natasha feels more at ease when she is talking, plus, gathering some intel might disperse the surreality of this situation. This actually sounds like the beginning of the world's worst joke. Hey, have you heard the one of the Avenger going to a coffee shop and meeting her favorite super villain?

How can this be her life?

Victor leans on the counter while they wait for their coffee. 'I have a business meeting to attend.', is his short answer. He still smiles and doesn't look homicidal otherwise. 'Not one of your competitors, I assure you, Miss Stark.', he adds quickly as if she might be afraid he would betray her like that.

It doesn't do anything to calm Natasha. 'What business meeting?', she asks with a raised eyebrow. 'I didn't take you for a person to travel half around the globe to attend to these kind of outings. Or to join one little villains group at all.', she says lightly.

Doom laughs. Without the mask it isn't even threatening. 'I'm not meeting the Cabal. You are right, they are beneath me. They and their petty little plans with the Mall next Saturday.' He shakes his head as if he never heard of such nonsense and regrets even bringing such unimportant things up.

'Wait wait wait. What was that?' Natasha sputters out. Her thoughts are already racing, trying to make sense to this.

Doom looks around surprised for some moments. 'I didn't hear anything.' Then that infuriating half smirk is back that tells Natasha he knows exactly what he said. He shakes his head. 'Sorry. But as I was saying, I meant a real business meeting.', Doom clarifies.

Natasha decides to play along and investigate that possible attack or trap later. 'Care to elaborate or shall I just call in the team?'

'You would find little pleasure in it. No threat to the public I promise. I caused enough mischief for a week, don't you think?' He winks. 'And of course I am here because they serve delicious coffee.' With a smile Doom turns to the barista and takes a hold of the cups, handing Natasha hers, then paying. Perplexed she takes the cup but quickly gets her bearings and turns away. He certainly has got enough money to pay for her coffee, especially since he interrupted her morning so rudely.

Nat gets the hunch this might be a very bad idea. Even for her standard. Drinking coffee with Doom is probably pretty high on the list of things she shouldn't be doing under any circumstances. Well, now it's too late. Maybe this would get them some information as to what his plans for the future may be or where he stands in the fallen country of Latveria.

Natasha sits down on a table far from the other guests and doesn't even kid herself with thinking that Doom would just leave. Still she takes out her tablet and sets of to work on some new designs for the StarkPad after taking some sips of the far too hot coffee with too much sugar.

She doesn't look up when the chair across her scraps over the floor and the table dips a little as the occupant leans on it.

'What do you still want?', she asks without looking up.

'My. Can't I just drink some coffee with a friend of mine without a greater plan involved?' Doom sounds hurt but Nat can see the smirk out of the corner of her eyes. What's his game?

'You could, but we are no friends.'

'Now you hurt me, Stark.' Nat looks up and gives up pretending to get any work done. His coffee stands untouched on the table, one of his hands rests over his heart. She could almost believe he is indeed hurt if the very idea wouldn't be absolutely absurd. After some moments glaring at him, he eventually cracks and smiles again.

He casts a look over her shoulder to check on the other guests.

'Are you worried that someone will recognize you and call the cops to have you arrested?', she asks, leaning one elbow on the table while sipping her coffee so that she could speak in a lower voice but don't seem too interested. It's his problem that he turned on his plans to change. First to help her and swear he changed his ways, then to attack New York, it's all very confusing, if he himself knows on which side he stands Nat doubts.

Amber eyes turn back to Natasha. 'No one has seen my face for decades. Or am least no one who could now tell the tale.' Doom is smug about that little fact. Whatever he had watched, it seems that it lost his interest.

Natasha raises her eyebrows. 'So I am the only one? Should I be honored?'

Doom smirks, then leans back in his chair. 'You're no one to ever feel honored, right? Barely impressed I'd say.'

'So you're not afraid to show your face anymore. Well, that's a new thing.' She chooses to ignore his jab. Why should she be impressed? Why should she even be nervous? Natasha had dealt with all kinds of strange and possibly dangerous situations. She was always able to let everyone think this is beneath her.

'Why, yes. It's.. deliberating. I can be who I want. Consider the possibilities.' Doom seems very intrigued.

'Because you changed your ways?', she asks with disbelief laced through her voice.

Doom seems surprised by her reaction. 'I did. I helped you with Whitney Frost, didn't I? I'm the good guy now.'

For a moment Natasha doesn't know how to react. He can't just have said that. He can't. 'What?! You are the good guy? Are you listening to yourself?! May I remind you of yesterday?', she hisses across the table.

He frowns. 'No one got hurt.', Doom defends himself, as if that would have all been a big joke.

'You fucking attacked us with your stupid Doombots!' Natasha tries to keep her voice low but he is getting under her skin with all that talk of being the good guy and attacking the Avengers simultaneously.

Doom isn't even impressed, merely rolls his eyes. 'You were just as entertained as me. Don't pretend for that to have been such a hardship.'

That is totally beside the point. Natasha would never admit to that out loud. 'If you're bored, you could do what normal people do.'

It's his time to raise his eyebrows. ' Like what? And what would you happen to know about the enjoyments of normal men and women?'

'I happen to know a lot.' She puts the proper indignation into her voice. 'Get a hobby. Jet around the world. After years as a dictator and a sorcerer you should have the means.'

'I chose to aid you. I think my resources are better spend than by chasing my own pleasure. We make a great team, you and I.'

'Doo-' A dark glance from the man in question lets her stop mid-word. 'Victor. We are no team. I don't know why you helped me but it surely wasn't because your a hero now.'

'We need each other's help.', Victor merely notes, then drinks his coffee as if there is nothing else to say.

Natasha sighs exasperating and returns her attention to her own cup, downing it this time.

'You shouldn't be drinking stuff like that.' His nose is scrunched up in disgust when Nat motions to get another cup. She also brings some muffins with her, placing them in the middle of the table because it would be slightly unfair, not that Natasha would mind but he bought her coffee and she doesn't want to use him in any way.

'It's my first one today, so that's alright.'

'First? When did you stand up?'

She shrugs casually. 'This is breakfast.', she only says, then reaches for the muffin with chocolate topping.

'You live quite unhealthy.' He eyes the sweets warily, then takes one of them and sniffs it suspiciously.

'Hey! If you don't appreciate them, don't touch them!', Nat chastises him around a mouthful of muffin which she downs with some gulps of the coffee. Now her stomach at least doesn't grumble because of hunger anymore. This is all Barton's fault. Why just did he have to drink all of her personal coffee stack? And why does Steve just insist on her not storing it in the communal kitchen as well, claiming that she would be excited enough? Stupid Steve. All his fault that she needs to go out to drink her coffee and eat some breakfast in a shop with von Doom.

Doom snorts (just in a more royal way than your average person would). Then he takes a bite, making a surprised noise.

'Not that bad, I take.' Natasha smirks.

He glares lightly at her. 'It's surprisingly acceptable.'

She eats the rest of her muffin, then reaches for the next one. 'So, when is the next attack? Just so I can plan my week.'

Victor laughs. 'This week no further attacks are planned.' He plugs a bit from the muffin, pops it into his mouth. 'Only if you need a good cover.' He winks with a sly grin.

She just wants to rebuff him when a few people finally pick up the courage to actually talk to her.

'I am sorry, Miss Stark, could we take a picture with you? We just love Iron Woman. I am Nicole and this is Danielle.', the blonde woman immediately starts to talk or rather to fan girl. Victor starts snickering but hides it behind his hand. His eyes gleam with mirth though.

Natasha pastes on her public smile as the two women in front beam at her with shining eyes. 'Sure. Maybe my companion could take the picture?', she suggests with a smirk in Victor's direction. The snicker stops but when the blonde woman directs her smile at him, he answers with an outstretched hand and a polite smile.

The woman and her friend place themselves next to Natasha, not noticing the glare Victor tosses at her while no one is looking.

Nat's smile turns more genuine and mischievous when Victor takes the picture.

'Thank you, you're my favorite Avenger.'

'Sure, no problem.', she assures the women who withdraw shortly thereafter. 'You sure you're up for that?', Nat asks with a grin. 'That's what comes with being a hero.'

Apparently he has had enough though. 'I believe it's time to go, Stark.' He sounds rather sorry so maybe this isn't about the fans.

'Well this was nice but you're right. I have to get back to real life where the villains don't assault me before my first coffee.', Nat quips.

'Nice meeting you. We should do this more often, Stark.' Victor smirks again. 'Unfortunately I am almost late for my business meeting. I quite enjoyed spending the spare time in such an interesting manner.' He casts a glance to where the fans still hover around.

Natasha frowns. 'Wait. That wasn't a lie?'

Victor chuckles. 'I fear not. Duty calls, Miss Stark.' He inclines his head, then heads for the doors and is gone before Natasha can voice her disbelief.

Natasha shakes her head, then looks down to the last muffin on the table and wonders when exactly she starts thinking of Doom as Victor.


	4. Chapter 4

**It's late and short-ish and nothing special, but here it is, the next chapter :)**

 **Thank you, for your kind review, wolfsprinzessin, there will be so many chaps with just IronDoom, you'll get annoyed by it xD About that pwp I'll see what I can do and romance.. it might take a while. Oops. Right, warning? Slow burn :D**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

CHAPTER 4

Some minutes after Victor, no, damn it, Doom, left, Natasha downs her coffee and heads back for Avengers Tower which is just a few blocks away. She ignores her buzzing phone just long enough to seem busy, then picks up to find, surprise surprise, Pepper checking in on her to make sure she does remember to sign some papers which she had left at the Tower while Nat was out making friends with the super villains of this world.

Just what had she been thinking?, Natasha wonders on her way down the street to where Avengers Tower lights up even in the middle of the day. Sitting with Victor von Doom in a cafe, talking about nothing and everything while eating muffins? Sounds like a bad joke if you'd ask her. Damn it. His whole new demeanor is putting her off so she can't think straight. She should have shot him on that rooftop yesterday but instead chatted away while down in the streets her teammates were fighting. She should have called the team in today and not bantered with him. She wonders why she didn't do it.

Maybe, just maybe, because she believes he had really changed. And that like everyone else, he, too, deserves a second chance. He had been right, he hadn't hurt anyone since the Madame Masque incident. He had rather played with the Avengers. Or rather with her. It's confusing.

Her thoughts stay at the strange encounters she had with Victor over the past few months, desperately looking for malice in his actions and finding none, while her feet carry her to her home.

The glass doors slide open, the guards nod at her and Jarvis greets her as she climbs into the elevator to go upstairs to the Avengers' floors, but she only partly registers these actions. Maybe she has a tumor in her brain? It would be reasonable enough and easier to explain than the fact that she hangs out with the world's most dangerous super villain. The elevator stops at the first communal floor.

'Miss Stark!' A young voice suddenly calls out. Natasha stops short, looks to the ceiling in a helpless gesture, swallowing the curse that rests on her tongue before turning around with the most patronizing smile she can muster. Why can't Jarvis ever warn her before something like this happens? Nat could have taken the stairs in that case. It are merely 70 something floors.

'Jack. Didn't see you there.' Which is an outright lie but he doesn't has to know.

'Can I speak to you for a moment?' The brunet young man comes jogging from the training room area. Jack Hart is a good-looking hero who hasn't long been in the business yet. He hadn't actually applied as an Avenger and rather messed around in one of Natasha's fights, then asked for guidance but Nat was able to see a lot of unused potential in him. When they had met first, she was under the impression he could be way better than herself one day, a better hero, a better human being who wouldn't catch up with the villains in a coffee shop around the corner, and that with the right push he would become a valuable asset for the team or on his own, whatever Jack would prefer.

'We need to talk about your choice of outfit, kid.', she notes before he can say anything further. He merely rolls his eyes. The costume and name he chose for himself when he gained his powers are just plain ridiculous. Jack of Hearts. Seriously? With that he would win any fight, sure, if just because the villains would laugh so hard, they couldn't fight.

He is currently dressed in his undersuit which he has to wear constantly so he can control the energies racing through his body, on top of that a red shirt and some ridiculous leggings in white with red hearts on them. Natasha eyes them warily.

'It's about time you realized that.', she adds just to postpone the inevitable.

'My costume and my name have a meaning and I won't change that.' He crosses his arms and frowns slightly when he comes to stop in front of Natasha, then apparently remembers his errant and that being a smartass won't help him with that. 'But that's not what I wanted to discuss. I trained and trained and have my powers under control now. Why didn't you let me be called in yesterday? I thought I proved myself when we fought Midas together?' He pouts slightly and looks every bit as young as he is.

When the name of that sniveling bastard falls, Natasha grits her teeth. That man had almost taken everything from her, first managing to almost steal all her spare armor, then sabotaging her plants and SI in general so he could buy all her stocks, then take over. Fortunately Jack had held her back because the first impulse had been to kill that swine which effectively would have been murder and with that more illegal than that take over. Jack had also helped her regain her company, hence she had proposed him as an Avenger in training. He wants to be a hero but without practice he will have a harder time. Furthermore Nat had wanted to help him dealing with this whole suddenly being a super being before it had become apparent that science might have gotten him into this trouble, but it wouldn't get him out of it. Still she won't give up with it just yet.

Natasha forces the thoughts from her mind. 'Because you never battled Doom and we had the situation. You would have just caused more damage.'

'I have my powers under control.', he exclaims loudly.

Natasha stops and looks him in the eye. 'I know, and I believe you. You just don't have that much experience.' She tries to stay calm but dealing first with Doom (and no, it wasn't pleasant to chat, not one bit) and now with an overconfident youth she is having a hard time.

'Because you won't let me help.' Jack pouts. Just how young is he really?

'Listen, kid. You're still in training. What if you got hurt or hurt someone else? It would be my fault. You would hate me or I would hate myself for placing you in a situation for which you weren't ready.', Nat explains yet again. She didn't bother counting how many times they had this conversation already. She could always ask Jarvis for the exact number later. 'We're a team, we're well attuned. We know what the others are gonna do. With you we still have to reach this kind of understanding.'

Jack knows that all, he still tries again. 'But Miss Stark..'

Nat almost groans but Spangles claimed as a mentor you're not supposed to do that. She starts walking again in hopes of getting away like that. 'Look kid, it's really early..'

'It's almost dinner time.', she gets interrupted.

Natasha stops for second, then picks up her pace again. 'That's totally beside the point but I really got other stuff to take care of right now.'

Jack crosses his arms. 'Like what?'

She makes a vague hand gesture. 'Super secret Avengers business.'

'And I have to buy that now?', he wants to know, a hint of a whine in his voice.

'Yes, you're the apprentice. You believe what I tell you and don't doubt me.' Natasha grins as she backs off towards the living room where probably the rest of the team is hanging out. As expected, Jack follows her so see about the super secret Avengers business. She hopes to find Bruce there (though the chances are practically nonexistent) or Romanov given that she still has to discuss some specs about the new Window's Bite with her. Luck is not on her side today and the only people around are Hawkeye and Scott, Steve sits in the background with his sketchbook which he immediately hides upon seeing her and blushes profoundly.

Well, no matter. Natasha flounders over to Cap's corner where the bar happens to be.

'Really?' Cap raises a disapproving eyebrow.

Nat shrugs. 'It's past five, so with that socially accepted.', she says when she pulls out a glass. Still, alcohol probably isn't a good idea so shortly before meeting with the Captain for top secret things, so she goes for soda. Sugar isn't prohibited at least. It would be completely inhumane.

Jack stands in the doorway, tapping one foot impatiently.

Steve almost laughs when his eyes drift there. Natasha gives him high credit for not doing it but instead remains calm and collected. The amused sparkle in his eyes would be invisible over such distances and for people who don't know him that well. 'Need a cover?', he asks lightly, turning to her.

She hums around the first sip of her drink. How she could regularly forget what a good actor he would have made, she can't fathom. Steve looks around the room, then motions her with his head to follow her outside. She takes her soda, then they leave the living room, and Jack, behind. They walk to her office so they wouldn't be overheard.

'Please tell me you aren't sleeping with him.'

Natasha's eyes widen. 'Gosh, no, Steve. Seriously? He's just a kid.'

'Stark.'

'Rogers.' She stares right back at him for some moments, then she visibly deflates. 'No, of course not. He's way too young. And I am his mentor.' She shudders at the thought. True enough, before the arc reactor he might have been her type, young, handsome, charming, funny. Now though, it just sounds plain weird. And the 'Miss Stark' is just a no go.

Steve eyes her for a little while longer, then nods. At least he would stay off her back and not nag her about this any longer. How long the suspicion had been on his mind, she doesn't know and doesn't want to know. Natasha tries to not feel hurt by it. Is not bringing Jack into the fight make it look like she is afraid to put him into danger's path?

'Why didn't you bring him in yesterday?' Apparently that really is the problem.

'He isn't ready yet.' She evades his eyes. 'You could have called him in by the way. You're the Captain of the team.', Nat claims.

Steve shrugs. 'And you're his mentor.'

'That's beside the point. It's not my task to say when he can fight. You're training with him more often than me.', he claims.

'No, I don't.', she denies that. It sounds almost like she would care and be responsible, heaven forbid.

'Fine, we train with him in equal measures.' Natasha rolls her eyes. 'Do you think he's ready?', she asks, crossing her arms.

'To be an Avenger? No. But to be a valuable help to fight villains who aren't a world threat?' Steve shrugs. 'You're wrong, that's your decision. You brought him in, you can judge more accurate how much he changed for the better than any of us.'

Nat groans and lets herself sink into a chair. 'Let's just forget about him for a moment, okay?' Her gaze shifts to the papers on the table, all in perfect order. Pepper.

'Fine.' Steve takes the seat opposite to her and watches her watching the papers. 'What's that?'

'Probably some bills I gotta pay for our favorite villain. Maybe I could try to send it over to Latveria.', she muses.

'I doubt Doom will answer it.' Steve smiles.

'Still might be worth a try.', Natasha mutters. She doesn't even really look at the check before signing it. It's for the greater good and she wouldn't miss the money anyway. Just Pepper would be nagging her about this again for weeks. It's not her fault that she is the only Avenger with enough money to provide both for the team and the victims of the people they fight.

The rest of the papers are from SI and would need more attention than Natasha is willing to grant them right now. There is a list of the latest requirements of the new StarkPhone as well as some details about the arc reactor department and their developments.

'So, I guess you had a hard night?', Steve asks after some moments of silence.

She looks up surprised. 'What gives?' Her thoughts had been drifting to earlier this day, the statement surprises her.

'Miss Potts didn't look too happy this afternoon when she asked Jarvis for your location and he said you were still in bed.'

'Is it a crime to not be up with the birds?', she snaps back. 'I had to do some repairs and got.. hung up.' That is as much as she is willing to admit.

'We're just worried you work too much.' There is a smile on his face that is almost sad.

She raises one eyebrow. 'We?'

Steve blushes lightly and rubs his neck to cover his embarrassment. 'Okay, I.'

'Sounds better.' More believable at least. 'Don't worry, but my armor needs to be at the ready. The villains surely won't wait for me to repair it.'

Nat shuffles through the papers again, not really looking at Steve. 'There is indeed something I want to talk about.' There goes nothing. 'I got a..' How to best put it? 'A hint that the Cabal might be planning something for next Saturday in the Mall.' She remembers von Doom's warning. Or was it a trap? He could have given her the information knowing she would investigate, planning to either kill her during that or discredit the Avengers during the attack. Natasha isn't sure if it's wise to share this with Steve but she can't just ignore a threat when it could cost lives.

'How trustworthy is it?' Steve seems to think along the same lines.

Natasha hesitates for some moments. 'I am not sure. That's why I didn't tell you earlier. I wanted to let Jarvis check to either prove or disprove the information but just in case he doesn't know about anything, I wanted to let you know beforehand.' Since they are already talking it would make little sense. 'He hasn't found anything yet.', she adds, checking her phone. Jarvis hadn't informed her yet at least.

Steve nods slowly, his eyes drifting to the window. 'Who gave you that information?'

She takes a deep breath. 'Can't tell you.'

Steve nods and doesn't question her further. 'You trust him? Or her?', he adds on an afterthought.

Natasha shrugs as if it wouldn't matter. Does it really not matter or does she simply not want to admit that she might trust Victor? Von Doom, damn it. 'Can't be too careful, now, can we?'

'No, that's right. We need to investigate this. Secretly without giving away what we know or they might just change their plans.'

Steve is back in Captain's mode.

Natasha decides to play along. 'I'll ask SHIELD and check any deliveries to their known hideouts. With any luck we might find out what is planned.'

'Couldn't you ask your secret source for more information? If we would at least know what could be planned..'

Nat shakes her head with emphasis. 'It could be a trap. Don't forget about that option. Maybe someone wants us to know so they can launch a thing when we are unprepared.'

'Or they are just simply overconfident and overestimating their abilities. We fought the Cabal in the past and never had much trouble with them. Half of the time they are fighting among themselves who the leader is.', Steve reminds her.

Natasha hums indefinitely. If they had considered Doom to join, they must have a more structured leader now who is a) willing to take chances by trusting Doom and b) willing to trust Doom. The ex dictator of Latveria isn't exactly known for being unreasonable after all but also not the most loyal comrade in arms. In the past even the Avengers had teamed up with him when none alone stood a chance against a common foe. And that was before he changed his allegiance.

Still. It means the Cabal has finally found a common cause worthy of sticking together and ignoring that Doom might be reformed. Or not. Maybe Doom is in league with them and is out to kill her and her friends. Both cases might end pretty bad for them.

'Listen, it's my time to make dinner. Why don't you try to relax a little, we can discuss this matter with the others later.'

'At least then Jack won't sulk for the rest of the day.', she agrees, not really listening anymore.

Steve smiles, then stands up to head for the kitchen area to cook for the Avengers. 'By the way, I think Strange mentioned coming around for dinner. Maybe he knows more.', he says offhandedly when he leaves.

Nat curses.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Strange. Stephen Strange. Ex top neurologist of the world. One of her new friends. One who controls the mystic arts. One who protects Earth from dangers Natasha doesn't even want to think about. One who has not the slightest clue about any impending attack on New York.

'I haven't heard about any of this. I thought you fought the Cabal last year and they finally gave up?', he asks now, frowning only the tiniest bit though that also could be his natural facial expression whenever he is around the Avengers. Natasha curses quietly. No need to offend the elderly people in the room.

It was Spangle's hope that maybe the master of the mystic arts had heard something about the attack on their city so he decided to ask him over dinner. Natasha had thought this a bad idea, her worries just get confirmed here. They are sitting around the table in the dining room, eating some of Steve's homemade food.

'We have.', Steve gives back. 'Or at least that's what we thought. But Nat got a different info.'

Strange eyes her strangely. 'And where would you get that information from?'

'Picked it up in a cafe.', she quips back. He knows, crosses Natasha's mind but she keeps her cool and acts as if she doesn't care. She leans back in her chair, crossing the arms, daring him to say another word about the matter with Doom.

'Sure.' His disapproving gaze won't go unnoticed but Natasha pretends to be unfazed. So what of she still has contact with von Doom? It's not his to judge. Actually she had even thought that Stephen would be on her side with this.

Apparently getting Doom to do all the hard work had changed Stephen's opinion of her somewhat. After all he hadn't needed to deal with Madame Masque because of Doomsy's intervention. He had always been a bit, how to phrase it, annoyed when Natasha contacted him or they were in the same room for that matter, although most people feel that way around her so that wasn't really that shocking. Now Strange merely disapproves of her continuing connection with the ex super villain since he is not of use any longer. Nat isn't even sure if his dislike for Doom is because of his status or because he sees him as competition.

One last warning glance to Nat, then he turns back to the Captain. 'But I am sorry, Steve. I haven't heard any news about the Cabal.'

Natasha tries to ignore the feeling that the dear doctor could be right. Doom is dangerous, his magic untraceable for both of them, his change of heart not fully acknowledged. He could be right in being worried about her, she isn't even sure herself if Doomsy isn't planning anything funny.

Steve nods in acknowledgment, blind to the quiet exchange between Nat and Stephen. She doesn't doubt that Tasha and Barton had seen it though and the confrontation would come fast enough.

Bruce is away for some scientific research namely still trying to find a cure for his 'condition' now that Natasha funds his adventures. She knows what it means to him so she forced him to take her money, at the same time reassuring him that he would need no cure. He had left her a message on her phone which she had kinda missed during all the excitement. He had left this morning while she was still asleep, having gotten a new clue from somewhere in the African jungle.

'Shame.' Steve sounds downcast. She knows he wants to believe her but it would be difficult to convince the rest of the team without further proof.

Natasha checks her phone under the table. Jarvis hadn't found out anything new but had tracked down some interesting deliveries to and from New York. Maybe that would prove fruitful. She wants to find some proof that either Doom is guilty of something or that nothing is going on. Why would she even hope that he didn't lie? They couldn't be friends. That's impossible by definition.

When Jack leans over to grab a third helping, she quickly lets it vanish less the boy should see the phone.

'Well, if that is all, I better get back to my own responsibilities. Thank you for dinner, Captain.' Strange stands up and smiles at them.

Steve smiles, then stands up with Strange to lead him to the door but not before the sorcerer can cast a last glance to Nat, telling her everything she needs to know about his feelings about her connection to Doom. Hypocrite. Nat has to suppress the urge to poke out her tongue at him. She's a grown woman and kicks ass far longer than he, she so can handle herself.

Now she reaches back to where she had placed her tablet when dinner had started and checks her to-do list as she had done when Doomsy interrupted her so rudely this early afternoon. The new sketches aren't coming along at all. She chews on her lip while she contemplates how to fix the newest tech for SI. Pepper had emailed her a list of the newest projects. The StarkPad needs some improvements and the RD department needs help as well.

After the last night's work on the suit Natasha starts yawning despite getting lost in her work while everyone else cleans up around her. An hour later she gives Jarvis some last instructions for what to track down and to wake her up in case he finds something.

She walks upstairs and drops down on the bed face first. The soft light of the morning wakes her. Groaning she turns around, pulling her blanket over her face to hide from the light.

'Good morning, Miss. It is 8:34 am.'

'Why am I awake?', she mutters into her blanket. Why is her head hurting this much? She didn't even drink yesterday. Not much. Okay, no more than usual. She glimpses around the bedroom to find the source of her distress but there is nothing and no one around. Jarvis reminds quiet as well.

'Have you found something?', she asks, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

'No, Miss. No progress yet.', he informs her immediately.

Shame. She lowers the blanket and gets used to the bright light slowly. Nat still doesn't know why she is awake before noon but it's of no use. Maybe Rogers starts rubbing off on her, she thinks grumpy.

Grumbling Natasha stands up and pats to the bathroom to get ready. Checking her messages Natasha brushes her teeth. Jack had asked her if she'd like to train in the morning, Bruce would return later today, the lead had brought him to a scientist who had been no help either (Nat breathes a sigh of relief), the RD department had send him the latest blueprints of the arc reactor technology, Pepper demands the input for the StarkPad and wants to see a prototype as soon as possible.

Natasha groans, and texts her teammate that she'll be downstairs in a few moments, expecting breakfast if he expects her to don the suit and train with him. Before she can even get to calling Bruce as to check when she should send someone to pick him up, Jack sends her a picture of some frying bacon with the note 'Ready in 3'. She grins, then grabs her tablet with the latest drafts and her phone to head downstairs.

'Call Brucie.', she instructs Jarvis, raising the tablet to her face.

'Nat?' Bruce is in a hurry, some green giant leaves waver above his head. He shoves them to the side, then takes a closer look at the screen. 'Is something the matter?' He seems surprised and not entirely sure what time it is given that she called and he was sure it's still morning.

She raises her hand to her heart in mock hurt. 'Can't I call my best friend while he is abroad traveling?'

His eyebrows rise. 'You can of course but I told Jarvis I'd be home by the evening. And I can take a cab, no need to bother Francis.'

'Francis?' Natasha frowns.

Bruce laughs and rolls his eyes. 'Your driver, Francis.'

Oh. 'That's his name, huh? Fascinating. Thanks, that could have been embarrassing.', she muses, not that she would care. That would teach Pepper a lesson about getting some strangers as drivers for her.

Bruce groans when a branch that swings back hits his face. 'Alright, glad to be of help. See you tonight?' Bruce seems eager to end this conversation, probably to concentrate on the invisible way out of there.

'I expect a full report and pictures of that.. beautiful jungle.' She waves her hand at the thicket around him.

'Ha ha.' Bruce grimaces. 'I better get going now. Bye.'

'Take care.' The connection gets broken just when the elevator comes to a hold on one of the communal levels. The smell of breakfast hits her nose, weaving in from the kitchen. She follows the smell. Jack wears his suit, as always, turning the bacon in the frying pan. There is a small apron fixed to his front side.

'Good morning.', he chimes in a far too happy and giddy for this early in the morning.

Natasha sits down on the counter. 'Morning.', she replies a little slower. The headache comes back again. Natasha puts her head down on the counter. Before she can say anything though there is a beeping sound and the clatter of a mug being placed right in front of her. Without looking up, Natasha says: 'Thanks, Dum-E.' The smell of coffee is tantalizing.

'You okay?', Jack asks. His worry might even be genuine, that seems to be an Avengers thing.

'Mhmm.' She makes a sound in the back of her throat while picking herself up from the counter. 'Just a little headache.', Nat says, trying to sound casual. She forces herself to drink some of the excellent boiling coffee. She pats Dum-E who still stands next to her. He beeps pleased with himself, then whizzes off towards the lab, probably to get his fire extinguisher back. It is a miracle that he didn't bring it up here.

'Maybe you should drink something else then.', he suggests.

'I don't think alcohol would help.', she disagrees. 'Furthermore it's supposed to be too early for that sort of thing.' According to Mr self-righteousness and Pepper at least.

'I was rather talking about tea.' Jack sounds slightly put off.

Natasha laughs out loud. 'Tea? Do you want to poison me?' She shudders in disgust. 'I'm not sick.' Just in case it isn't clear, Natasha Stark doesn't get sick. Like never.

'Hey, even you need a break occasionally. You should go back to bed.'

'I'm fine, Jack. Give me two cups of coffee and finally a plate of that delicious food and I'll be ready to beat you to the ground in a few moments.'

He laughs and gets back to watching the bacon while Nat takes out her tablet and goes again over the email from Pep, deciding to call her just when Jack places a plate with a rather healthy breakfast in front of her and waves shortly before leaving her alone to her call.

'10 minutes.', she calls after him as the Jay establishes the connection to SI.

Pepper picks up after the third ring, she looks slightly stressed and tired. Natasha munches on her bacon and her toast while talking to her about some specifics and to tell her that the new tech would get on the market when the owner of Stark Industries would see it fit, and oh, what a convenience! That happens to be Natasha.

Pepper rolls her eyes but doesn't nag her further about the matter, turning rather to some requests of the scientists. Apparently the clean energy department is stuck and needs her help with the latest arc reactor tech. Nat's vision of a self-sustaining city starts to roll finally.

After breakfast and some further discussions with Pepper Nat leaves for her workshop to don her armor and get ready to battle with Jack. The youngster lacks experience of how to fight properly without endangering himself and all around him. The whole team takes turns in training with him though only Cap, Thor and Nat are able to fight him without him being afraid of damaging them permanently.

The clank of metal on concrete proceeds Natasha as she walks down the hallways. Next time she remodels the Tower she has to add higher ceilings. Flying might be possible if she would feel like hiring construction workers and painters to cover the damage every few days. Especially on the private floors the hallways are just too narrow for it to be much fun at least.

Jack is already warming himself up, firing some shots at the targets Jarvis provides for him. Nat had to reinforce the walls to hold up his blasts. The energies his body had developed after being bathed in Zero Fluid in an accident, are highly potent and have the potential of ripping at least Manhattan Island apart should he ever lose control (or get out if his self-designed armor which shields the world from his deadly powers).

'Hey, kid.'

He laughs, then lands next to her. His powers astonish her more than they should. Jack can channel the energies into intense heat, concussion and propelling forces which allow him to fly, to melt most materials and knock down just about everything. 'I'm no kid anymore, Miss Stark.', he tells her, crossing his arms.

Nat huffs. 'For me you are, kid. Ready to go?'

'Maybe you should warm up as well. Don't want to hurt you.' The smug grin on his face grows. He still bothers with a mask here though Nat has no idea why. There is little that could hurt him anyway.

Nat grins back though he can't see it. 'Do your worst.', she forces out between her teeth. Finally he gets some self-confidence and dares to challenge her without backing off, thinking that she might take it bad. He is in better control of his powers already, she can tell after a few blows. He is getting better every day and maybe in the close future he could either join the Avengers or become a superhero by himself like so many. Jack certainly has the talent and the will. The only real error in his fighting style is his hotheadedness.

Jack throws himself at her. Nat easily evades and gets a hit on his back, sending him spiraling into a wall.

'Be mindful of your environment, young padawan.', she teases.

Jack groans. 'You sound like Cap.'

'We can't have that.' Natasha flips up her face plate so he can see her make a face.

They go three more rounds before Jack decides he is getting the hang of his powers and gets Natasha to agree if only because he refused to let her go for lunch before she'd admit to that little fact.

'Doesn't mean you're ready though.', she quips when Jarvis takes care of her armor and brings it back to the workshop after she extracted herself from it. Grabbing one of the towels, she wipes some sweat of her brow.

Jack's shoulder slump slightly. 'Will I ever be?'

'Eventually.' Natasha shrugs. 'Why do you hurry so much? Enjoy the time as a trainee. Do mistakes while you still can. I mean it.' She points a finger at him.

'You're quite.. wise when you're up so early.' He rubs his neck in thought, pulling off his mask as well. While Natasha feels pretty worked out, Jack looks like he barely broke a swear. Does she envy the youth.


	6. Chapter 6

**Oh my. It's been a while, hasn't it? I was quite sick in the past weeks but I know, you don't want to hear. Anyway, to gloss over that mistake of mine and because I am almost done with prewriting the whole story, I cooked the IronDoom week up. For you that means for the following seven days you will get an update of this story each and every day (I hope, I mean, I have faith). Hope you enjoy!**

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CHAPTER 6

'Fuck.'

The swear tumbles out of Nat's mouth before she can stop it. Her blue eyes are glued to the screen of her computer, scanning the content of it for the third time to make sure she wasn't mistaken. She is little surprised when the meaning of it doesn't change. Of course she wouldn't be so lucky, like ever.

'What is it?' Bruce looks over her shoulder to see what she is staring at like she wants to stab it. He had only just returned from his trip yesterday in the middle of the night and had claimed to be too put off to deal with her highly caffeine-ed self just then. Since most of the night had been spent after that by the brunette with fixing up things for SI and then doing some armor improvements, the next time they had seen each other had been for lunch. Sleep is for the weak, Nat tells herself but even she has to admit she isn't in her best shape after getting three hours of it and being woken rather roughly by some vicious memories of Afghanistan. But Bruce had wanted to spend some time with her in the laboratory so who is Nat to say no? Sciencing with her friend is really the best afternoon distraction if it wouldn't be for these news.

'Jay traced down some rather inconspicuous parts delivered to where he tracked the latest activities of the Cabal.', she informs him, still scowling at the screen.

'How can you track the Cabal down?', Bruce interrupts her tirade before she gets off topic. He sounds surprised. It offends her only slightly, he didn't get much sleep either after all.

She snorts. 'I got a lock on every villain in the vicinity of New York who's too stupid to use a firewall. None of the Cabal is clever enough to not be tracked by some drones. None of them can teleport or hide themselves like Doomsy with magic.', she adds, shoving the images of him in that coffee shop aside, bend on not following her thoughts down that particular road just yet. Why just had that bastard to be right? Natasha had hoped to find some proof that the Cabal isn't planning a damn thing but of course Doom had to ruin her day again without even showing up.

'So what's so conspicuous about inconspicuous parts?' He looks over her shoulder again to see the list. It consists of several deliveries to different warehouses in the vicinity of where Nat knows the Cabal is hiding. They aren't a big enough threat though to take on just now.

'That they look like a weapon to me, don't you think? I certainly could build something out of this stuff. Damn it.', she curses again, barely retraining from crossing her arms in sulking. Against popular belief she is no child (that's right, Pepper).

'And now we can prepare. What's so bad about knowing this?' Bruce frowns. Steve must have debriefed him on the hint she got from Doom.

'That he was right.', she mutters, typing away on the keyboard. Ideas already flood her head of what to build for maximum destruction. It would give her a certain kind of satisfaction to see something blow up.

'Who?'

'No one.', she retorts immediately. 'No matter though.' Nat sighs, turning in her chair to face Bruce. She stands up and walks over to her workbench where paper and pencils await her. Nat can think best with something in her hand. 'We need to figure out what that is. Jay, do we have everything?'

Bruce's eyebrows shoot up. 'Are we going to build that without knowing what it is and without a plan?'

Nat grins, pointing her pencil at him. 'That's exactly what we're gonna do, Doctor Banner.' She is full of enthusiasm now and pushes all thoughts of Doom not being an evil prick from her mind. He's still a jerk, that much is clear and must suffice for now.

'They probably thought of this. This might not be all parts, or more than are needed.', Bruce muses while Nat already sketches some parts of various machines in her head.

Natasha shakes her head. 'They think we know nothing. And it's not enough to be something else. So, Jay, we got everything?', she asks again, a hint of irritation creeping into her voice. She doesn't like being ignored.

'Yes, Miss. The spare parts are already ordered and will be here in an hour or two. I transport the other parts down to your workshop as we speak.'

'Good job, Jarvis.' The workshop at the base of the Tower is at least able to withhold an explosion. Their lab here would not be a good place to build a dangerous weapon in, she figures. Natasha claps her hands, delighted to have something to do with her science bro. 'Well, let's get going, Brucie. No time to lose.' With that she strides to the elevator.

It's just one week until the Cabal plans to attack the Mall. And who knows how long it would take Bruce and her to figure out what exactly that devise does and how to counteract it? Dum-E already buzzes around the workshop, moving seemingly random things from the back to the center. Butterfingers organizes the things in the table according to some of Jarvis' earlier calculations.

When Dum-E notices her and Bruce enter the workshop, he forgets all about his tasks and zooms over to greet Natasha. Smiling she pats him, then walks over to the table while the robot corners Bruce to get more attention. Her fingers slide over the different parts of the machine they are about to build. The cool touch of metal is familiar as is the excitement she feels with the prospect of tinkering for hours at end ahead of her.

'Where do we start?', Bruce asks after shaking off Dum-E. The robot hurries away again to resume the task of gathering all materials on the table for the scientists to work with.

Natasha hums, walks around the table for a few times and lets her eyes drag over the different parts. There are several mother boards which need to be wired, a lot of spare parts which don't fit together at all, and two confused scientists. Suddenly Nat isn't overly sure anymore that these parts are all needed or that this is all apart from the parts Jarvis ordered, there will be a lot of trial and error. She gets giddy like always when only thinking about all they can try.

'Jay? Have you already found a pattern?' It's a shot in the dark because there is barely any machine which Nat hadn't built already on her own and of which she wouldn't know the parts by heart and recognize in an instance.

Bruce walks over to the computer and draws up some holo screens, pulling them to the table so they can check over the possible arrangements of the different parts. Natasha swishes the ones away which don't look right, being a lot faster than Bruce with his stack, and puts the ones to the side which they would take a closer look at.

She is pretty sure the sun must have set by the time Agent Romanov comes downstairs after Butterfingers had brought them some dinner. Nat's meal still stands untouched on the desk. For her not even five minutes seem to have passed since Bruce and she started working but when she straightens her back, the pain tells her something else.

'What are you doing?', Tasha asks, looking at the table and the few prototypes assembled on it.

'Just some tinkering, trying to figure out how the Cabal seeks to defeat us this time. What can I do for you?' Nat swipes her hands on a dirty cloth which does nothing to the grease attached to them.

Tasha takes a closer look at the devices. 'You wanted to speak about the stingers.', she reminds the brunette.

Oh. 'I totally forgot.' It slipped her mind completely with all the excitement of being able to build a new weapon. Nevertheless, a promise is a promise.

'It's okay.' Tasha knows her priorities, turning already to leave.

'No, no. Just a moment.' Nat hurries off to her desk and rummages through her blueprints, looking for Tasha's stingers. She had thought up some improvements. 'Here.'

Bruce also takes the hint. Maybe a short break would help them concentrate a little better later.

XXXXX

'Damn it.' Natasha looks in turns at the devise in Bruce's hands and the floating Dum-E. 'Damn it.', she repeats.

'Hell, what's that?' Bruce is just as stunned as she is.

He deactivated the thing they had build in the last five meals. Natasha hadn't slept in that time though Bruce had taken a nap on the cod somewhen after the second meal arrived. Dum-E falls back to the ground, there is a thud but a look confirms that he didn't get damaged because of the ten inches. He shakes his claw, then comes with a low beeping towards Nat to complain about the abrupt drop. Absentminded she pats him, her thoughts race a hundred miles a minute.

'Can we seriously control gravity with that thing?', Nat asks out loudly because she can't really wrap her head around it. Her sleep deprivation is just part of the reason. By now probably just coffee and caffeine course through her bloodstream.

The possibilities this opens up are endless. They could change the world. Lifting weights is no longer difficult, on the lowest intensity the beam can already lift Dum-E, a two hundred pounds robot, without problems. The things it could do on full intensity? Nat isn't sure if she wants to find it out.

Bruce nods, forcing himself to look away from the place Dum-E floated mere seconds ago. 'I do think so.'

Nat and Bruce look at each other some moments, then identical grins spread on both faces. They had made it. They may have changed the world in the process of saving New York.

'Jarvis, the time.', Bruce says after some moments when a big yawn forces the smile from his face.

'It is 11:35 pm, Doctor Banner. Miss,you have not slept for 67 hours and not eaten for 13 hours. I suggest you continue to work tomorrow after eating and sleeping.'

Natasha rolls her eyes. 'He is exaggerating.'

'But maybe it would really be best to conclude this in the morning, Nat.', Bruce says, rubbing his eyes after placing the machine on the table next to him.

Nat pouts. 'Oh, come on. I'm not tired in the least. And we just made a major breakthrough. Come on, Brucie. We can't stop now.', she whines and yes, maybe it's time to stop talking and start wandering in the direction of her bed.

'No, I'm done, Nat. I need some sleep and so do you. I'll come back tomorrow and we'll figure out a way to counteract this.' He motions in the direction of the machine, already on his way to the elevator.

'No.', she insists. 'You gotta stay. We can figure out a way now. Then there is Tasha's stingers we can work on, there is so much to do. No time to sleep and no time to lose. I bet we could boost the intensity of this ray by a good two hundred per cent before the morning, what do you say?' Babbling is probably not going to help her in her situation but Nat can't help it.

'Nat.' Bruce take a hold of her shoulders, shoving her in the direction of the elevator. 'You need sleep. 67 hours is far too long.', he says patiently. Who is he to talk?, Natasha thinks with a pout, he had slept after all for six hours, he should be all right and all for continuing. They reach the elevator without Nat putting up a lot of fight. Even her sleep deprived self knows better than to anger Bruce when he is tired and possibly hungry and they are in a Hulk-proof room.

Minutes later Nat enters her own apartment in the penthouse. Darkness envelops her. She hadn't lied when she claimed to not be tired in the least. The caffeine in her system will effectively prevent her from going to bed for another few hours so she might as well have worked. Well, there is still her own workshop here where no one can ban her.

'Were you fearing I could be telling the truth?' It's the same drawl that had startled her some days before. Nat barely flinches, at least she likes to tell herself. Actually she had been counting on it somehow.

She switches on the light to see Victor von Doom sitting in an armchair in her living room. 'Tell me one good reason to not call the others right now.', she prompts, trying to suppress a shudder. How had he gotten in here? Why hadn't Jarvis warned her?

The brunet man swirls the amber liquid in the glass he holds with his right hand, watching it as if it's the most interesting thing he has seen in a while. 'What's stopping you?', he asks, looking up through his lashes.

Natasha scowls at him, then heads for the bar to pour herself a drink. 'I'd offer you a drink but I see you already took care of that yourself.', she says as casually as she can.

Doom looks at his glass again. A smile crosses his features. 'You have an excellent taste, Miss Stark.'

'Well, thanks. It's not a cheap hobby, I can tell you.'

She takes her scotch and sits down opposite to him. 'How did you get in here?', she asks, trying not to think about his previous question though it's a good one. Why doesn't she call in her team, her friends? She needs more information about the gig that's supposed to take place on next week. That's the only reason. Without him it would be more complicated to find clues and be prepared.

Doom smirks. 'But Stark, telling you that would spoil all my fun.'

Nat groans. 'Fine.' Jarvis feeds her with data from the scanning of the room. She gives him the inconspicuous sign to not call in the team or send up her armor, she would deal with this herself. She doubts he could do any of those things anyway since he didn't speak out loud or warned her. 'So you can just come and go to this Tower as you please?', she asks instead to get the conversation going again.

Doom nods thoughtful. 'True. But then again, here is little of interest for me, is there?'

Natasha wants to object but keeps her tongue in check and downs her scotch instead. For a moment she mourns to not have anything to do with her glass anymore and contemplates getting a refill. A glance to Doom just makes that idea all the more tempting and dangerous. 'On Saturday the Cabal wants to take hostages to get us into the open, then win with some magic weapon that has something to do with gravitation.', she says, never one to beat around the bush. There is little other reason for Victor von Doom hanging out in her apartment if there is nothing of interest here for him, is there?

He hums noncommittal, watching his drink sloshing in his glass.

She still has the taste of alcohol in her mouth. 'To what purpose?', she wants to know, licking her lips.

He shrugs. 'Isn't it obvious?'

'Is it?'

Doom stares right back at her in a mocking way. Slowly a grin spreads on his face. 'Are you asking for my help, Miss Stark?'

She tuts*. 'No. Maybe.'

His smirk widens. 'You might want to take a look at the newest members. They are terrible influence on every villain who has some honor.' He shakes his head in disgust. The topic seems over with that. Victor might want to help but she needs to figure out the rest on her own.

Natasha nods. 'How was your business meeting?'

Victor nods. 'Good, very good even.' He leans now back in his armchair, getting more comfortable. The drier topics seem to be done for him.

'Care to elaborate?', she asks, leaning back as well to not seem tense.

Doom smiles, takes a swig from his drink and swirls the rest around. 'Not yet. But I'll be in New York for a week. Got any tips for a tourist?'

She looks at him like he just turned himself into a balloon. 'Nice of you to inform me that you're staying here. When will the next Doombot crash into my window?'

He chuckles. 'I just helped you and now you're accusing me of wanting to hurt you and your petty superhero friends. That's not very polite, Miss Stark.', he chastises her.

'You know me. Politeness isn't my stronghold.', she gives back.

'I noticed. Anyway, it's too early to talk about my business meetings. There are a few more, I don't believe I will find the time to pester your friends though I can try if you insist.'

'Aren't you afraid the Latverians will finally notice what a dick you are and revolt with you gone so long?'

It's not quite a glare but it's a close call. 'I told you I have no interest in further ruling Latveria. Why would I? For the first time since my teens I can walk around without my mask, without everyone recognizing me for who I was born as. I want to know who I can be and I can't do that while oppressing a whole country. That's a fulltime job.' His amber eyes gleam with mischief by the time he is done talking.

Natasha snorts before she can stop it. 'I wasn't sure if you remembered.'

Victor's gaze becomes more intense if possible. 'I have all my interests visualized, I assure you.' It sounds almost like a promise.


	7. Chapter 7

**Day 2! Yay :3  
**

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CHAPTER 7

Doom's eyes gleam with mirth. Natasha would have expected him to lash out because of her remark about him not remembering to not wanting to be the evil dictator anymore but he continues to just sit as collected and amused across from her as before. His stare is only slightly affecting her but that reaction she can blame on her current state of wakefulness, hence the little shudder.

Nat has to suppress a yawn which she didn't think she'd be able of. For heaven's sake, she is sitting next to one of the most dangerous men of this world, a sorcerer who can't be hit by any weapon she has ever designed, who is totally unfazed by the mighty force of the Avengers. She should be alert and vigilant and certainly not ready to sleep despite the almost 70 hours she hadn't had a siesta in. Maybe that's just too much, she isn't getting any younger either after all. The thought that it could be because she doesn't think of Doom as a threat anymore is too strange to pursue any further, especially not now.

He laughs lightly. 'Am I boring you, Stark? You wound me.', he claims with a hand on top of his heart. There is stukk that glint in his eyes which she can't define.

Natasha glares halfheartedly at him. Without a word she stands up and grabs both their glasses that stand empty on the table to refill them. It gives her something to do if nothing more.

'I'll take some of that excellent whiskey, if you please.', he says with a smile when Natasha chooses a new beverage for herself. She rolls her eyes. First breaking in, then having demands. 'And to answer your question, no, I haven't forgotten my renouncing of Latveria because I meant it. That doesn't mean I don't care about my home country or that I won't continue living there. It's my home, I am always going to care.' He always cared for his country and people more than for anything else. In the meantime he went crazy and tried to conquer other countries, who would care for trivialities?

'That's.. not very surprising but I understand.', she says when filling their glasses. What does it matter if she drinks a little more? Doom made no move so far to attack her, so Nat assumes it will stay that way at least if she keeps the liquor flowing. 'What are you planning?', she asks, thinking out loud and not really expecting an answer.

'Who knows?', he says. When she tosses a glare at him, Victor smiles. 'I am doing what I can to help the people.'

'That's what your meetings are about?', she asks. She sits back in the armchair and hands Victor his drink. Nat does her very best to not think about the absurdity.

'Thank you.' With a smile he accepts the drink. 'Yes if you have to know. Not up to destroy your beloved city.' He winks, then takes a sip.

'Wow, I am relieved.' Nat rolls her eyes. 'We would have stopped you anyway.'

Doom laughs as if doubting her words. Hell, she doubts it herself. The Avengers might be able to stop the Doombots but certainly not a master of magic bend on destroying them. Strange might be able to handle Doom but even that is debatable.

'So, what are your meetings about then?' She takes a sip from her drink. 'If it's no super villain business you might as well tell me.'

'Ah, trying to get into my plans again? Nothing is for sure yet so I'd rather keep it to myself for now.', he explains. He doesn't seem to mind the question however. 'And I should be on my way. It's late and you're probably tired out after almost three days. I thank you for the drink, Miss Stark. I look forward to meeting again.'

He tilts his empty glass and stands up. For once Natasha is too perplexed to utter a word. How did he know about the three days science spree with Bruce?

'Good night, Miss Stark.' He nods to her, lazy smile still on his face.

Before she can say another word, von Doom is gone.

'Jarvis?' There is a panicky edge to her voice. What the hell did just happen?

Fortunately her AI is very good at reading her. 'All systems are online again, Miss. Victor von Doom has left the building. Recess teleportation energy detected.'

She slumps back into her armchair. 'Its alright, buddy. Have you still got some readings we can use?', she asks, having little hope it will do any good. At least he has left and hasn't gone on a rampage through the building.

'Yes, Miss.', Jarvis informs her. 'I will run some tests.'

She nods thoughtful, then tilts her head back and empties the glass. 'Who is home? And where?'

Jay tells her that Agents Romanov and Barton are out, Rogers is already in bed as is Brucie. Scott went home and Jack is still up reading. She had refused that the latter men help them with the gravitation project but she might call them in now that she and Bruce figured out what it is. Everyone around her just makes her nervous when she is tinkering, with Bruce being the exception. He calms her, Scott and Jack would just distract her and make working more complicated (and threaten their relationships unnecessarily, Bruce can handle her when she is in her science mode, they can't).

Natasha rubs her eyes, nodding. Doom undoubtedly chose the perfect moment to flicker into existence and back again when none of the Avengers could barge in on them. Maybe some sleep would be the wisest decision for now.

She bids Jarvis good night and heads for bed.

XXXXX

Finding a countervailing devise or method together with Lang, Hart and Banner is easier than any expected. Some magnetic force field generator renders the devise absolutely powerless. With a grin Natasha fixes the last pieces just two days later. Some final tests would have to reveal if it really works but Natasha is optimistic. And this all with two days to spare.

She isn't sure what she is supposed to think of Doom. After the second visit she is sure he merely wants to toy with her. That's the only explanation because Doom surely can't have changed from the super villain to a person who helps the world's biggest superhero team. He could never make up for what he had done to the world. He had taken too many lives. He had done too much evil. Who could tell what he had done in her apartment or in the Tower while he sat upstairs alone, with Natasha and Bruce in the workshop downstairs? She had let Jarvis scan everything, searching for signs of magic but he hadn't found any other traces.

Next time she would call in the team or try to take him out.

The only reason Doom had helped them, helped her, was to distract her from something important. She had been a fool to forget about all this when she drank coffee with the villain, when she offered him a drink. He is a threat, no matter what he pretends to be.

'Jarvis?' Natasha looks up from her work.

'There are no traces of von Doom's mystic energies, Miss.' She doesn't even has to speak her question out loud for Jarvis to know what she wants to ask. Natasha sighs. Scott, Jack and Bruce are already back in their lives, work being done for the day.

'Try to trace him down.' She still had decided to not tell the team about her conversations with the Latverian dictator. They would think she went crazy, that he has her under his control, that she is incapable of helping them save the world anymore. Who could tell what he had let her build there? They would risk losing the battle with the Cabal in case they decide that the Graviton wasn't what the villains would be attacking with because it could be an evil master plan of Doom.

'Doing my best, Miss.', the AI reassures her. 'Maybe Doctor Strange could be of help, if I might suggest it. I have rather limited readings of Doctor Doom's energies and he can make himself invisible to my sensors.'

Natasha shakes her head. 'We will do this alone, Jay. No getting Strange involved, understood?'

'As you wish.' If Jarvis could sigh, he certainly would have done so now but Nat doesn't care if he approves of her stubbornness or not. Strange had warned her about Doom, he would just point out that he was right all along. Natasha couldn't have that.

Despite it almost being time for dinner, Nat sits down to get some work for her company done, working on some of the tasks Pepper had send her. Most of it is too easy and she gets along at a good pace. Why her best friend insists on her doing these things and not the people working down in the labs, Nat doesn't understand but she stopped questioning the redhead a long time ago even before they were friends.

AC/DC blasts from the speakers, Natasha doesn't even hear it anymore. It's exactly what she needs. Some hours must have passed when she notices it.

Something is different. Natasha raises her head from the work on some of her armor to look around to find out what changed from a moment ago. Then it hits her. The music has been muted. She readies herself to take whatever call Jarvis wants to patch through to her or find out why the hell Jay killed her buzz, when she turns around though, she finds that Jarvis isn't to blame. The guilty one stands in the doorway, a sheepish look on his face and a steaming plate with something smelling absolutely delicious in hand.

'Since you didn't come up for dinner, I brought you a plate of my rice and chicken.', Steve says with a small smile.

Natasha puts down her screwdriver, and wipes her greasy hands on the dirty sweatpants in an attempt to clean them a little. 'What time is it?' Surprised she looks around. She can't have stayed here that long, it was barely five o'clock when she started working on her own projects.

Steve fidgets slightly. 'It's almost ten. Jarvis said you're alright and just working but I figured you would get hungry somewhen.'

Just when Steve says that, her stomach, long ignored, grumbles loudly. They laugh for a moment. Steve sets the plate down on the less crowded desk, pulling out of his pocket a spoon and a fork wrapped up in a napkin.

Natasha sits down at the desk and wolfs down the portion Steve had been thoughtful enough to bring with him. The blond sits down on the edge of the desk and takes a look around. Natasha appreciates that he doesn't wander through her workshop and touches everything. Steve respects that this is her sanctuary and just walks further in when she invites him to take a look at something.

'So, how's the gravitation devise coming along? If you need someone more scientifically educated than me, I think Lang is still awake.', Steve says, maybe wanting to leave as soon as possible. He sounds interested enough though.

'Oh no, not necessary. I fixed it earlier.', she waves him off between two bites.

Steve smiles. 'What are you working on now?', he asks.

Ah, so this is what this courtesy call is about. 'Why? You got something you want?', she asks with a raised eyebrow.

A frown crosses the blond's face. 'No. Just asking. My uniform is perfect as I already told you. The magnetic bands on my wrists work flawlessly.', he assures her.

Nat blinks. 'Oh.', is all she can think of to say.

'I know you're not used to people bringing you food and other things for any other reason than wanting something from you, but I am just worried for my teammate who works herself to death with all the new gadgets and weapons for our team she comes up with. Jarvis told me you hadn't eaten all day.' He sounds genuinely worried.

Natasha blinks a few times to get over the initial shock. Steve cares? Why would he do that? That's ridiculous, she needs no babysitter to tell her when to eat and fuzz about her. She is about to tell him so but the look of honest worry puzzles her. So Natasha just nods and looks down again to her food. He's her team leader, he will have his reasons, as selfish as they might be, like not wanting to get shot by a tired out woman in iron armor who can't tell friend from foe anymore.

'So? What are you working on?', he asks again with a smile. Steve doesn't seem to mind her reaction and is bend on continuing the conversation.

An apology rests on the tip of her tongue. She swallows it. It's not as if they are friends but Steve knows her and knows what to expect from her. Natasha points at the gloves of her armor she currently had been working on. 'I got some new weapon system I have been wanting to build in for some time now.'

'What does it do?'

She eyes him warily but Steve is really interested. Natasha stands up, eating the last bite, and motions Steve to follow him. She shows him the latest gadgets she had come up with. Then they discuss some battle strategies for the upcoming fight with the Cabal.

Natasha shows him what the Graviton can do so Steve knows what to expect. They hadn't really shown the team the effects yet, being too busy finding countermeasures.

'Won't it interfere with your suit?', Steve asks with a frown.

That lets her pause for a moment in her rambling. What does he know of this kind of technology? 'Maybe?', she admits. 'But it's highly improbable. Jarvis' scans indicate no interference between the Iron Woman armor and the devise. There are too many safeguards. Apart from an EMP nothing could shortcircuit my suit.', she assures him with a grin.

'We should at least try to train fighting this once as a team.', Steve suggests, dropping the theme.

Natasha agrees and schedules a meeting for the next afternoon, making sure Jarvis would tell and remind the rest of the Avengers. After the meal Natasha feels pulled towards her work again, she settles on fixing some minor errors in the coding of the StarkPhone software while chatting with Steve about other Avengers business.

'I'll be back in a moment if you would still like some company?', Steve asks. He stands in the doorway. Natasha only now realizes that he had been rather silent during her rambling about patches and updates and that none of them had spoken for some minutes now. It hadn't been entirely uncomfortable. 'I can't sleep now anyway.'

'You don't have to.' Natasha frowns a little, looking up from her work.

'I know. But I can also sketch down here. What about it?' She looks for some moments at him, trying to decide if he means it or not.

'Nah.' She shuts the lid of her laptop. 'I think I can call this a day. How would you like to watch some movies or something?'

Steve grins. 'Sure.' The idea seems better than staying down in the lab, especially since the super soldier would probably drag her out of bed by 2 o'clock pm the next day. She wonders where the enthusiasm to spend time with her comes from but thinks that Steve probably sees this as team bonding and as a duty rather than as a pleasant evening activity. Just like he had brought that food with him out of the feeling that he would need to.

They go upstairs and Steve doesn't look for a way out of it. So, what's it? Natasha Stark had never been known for beating around the bush.

'I didn't think you'd like me.', Natasha says while she has a reason not to look at him as she looks for the movie she wants to show Steve tonight.

'What?! I thought we are friends.' He sounds hurt enough that Nat turns around surprised. True to his tone, Steve looks like someone kicked a puppy.

'I mean.. oh, forget it.' Steve is the kind of person who wants to be friends with everyone, especially those he doesn't like just to prove himself that he is a good guy. Nat should have thought of that. Well, whatever.

'No.' He sits up straighter, a frown firmly on his face. 'Nat, are we friends?'

She shrugs. 'I thought you didn't like me.', she repeats. 'We didn't really have one day yet where we didn't fight. You don't exactly approve of my decisions in battles or in life generally. What am I supposed to assume?' With a smile she turns back to the DVD's as if it's no big deal, which it isn't.

'Yes, I disapprove of your recklessness because I like you.' Steve stands up and stops right next to her, forcing her to look up so Nat wouldn't stare at his shoes. His baby blue eyes are impossibly wide. 'I don't want you to get hurt when you throw yourself between us and some kind of weapon even you don't know. I worry. I thought that's what friends do.'

'Good. There is no need to.', Nat objects just because she can. 'My armor is thick enough to hold off most blasts while you are all without such armor, claiming it would hinder you somehow. So of course I try to protect my teammates. Why wouldn't I?'

Steve smiles again. 'Just because we disagree doesn't mean I don't enjoy the time with you.'

Natasha nods reluctantly. 'Wow. I.. okay.' It doesn't make sense but maybe this is the one time when she shouldn't talk back.

Steve points at the screen. 'What are we watching?'

'Dead Poets Society.', she says, still distracted by the direction this evening took. He takes the boxing from her to take a look.

Steve puts down the DVD box and shrugs when Jarvis starts the movie on screen. 'I judged you harshly at the beginning. I misjudged you and treated you in a way you didn't deserve. I am sorry for that.'

She feels more uncomfortable with this by the minute. It's strange to have Steve apologyzing to her. 'Don't be. I was a bitch. I wasn't nice to you either. That.. wasn't right.', Nat is willing to admit.

That's as close as she can get to an actual apology and Steve knows. 'We should do this more often. Just the two of us, talking for once.'

Somehow Nat doubts that is a good idea.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

Natasha eventually falls asleep next to Steve on the sofa, being relaxed enough to stop thinking about the strenuous talk she had with the super soldier that very evening and the building of her devises and machines, about fighting super villains with technology far beyond their capabilities and running away from Pepper. When she wakes up though the soft morning light is falling in through the half-dimmed windows, Natasha knows she is in her own bed.

Third time in a week, she tells herself. Personal record. Ever since New York she had spend most of her nights on the cod in the workshop or not sleeping at all. She is surprised though that no nightmares had plagued her the past few nights, neither of space nor of her arc reactor being ripped out of her chest, probably because she had been tired out of her mind each time before going to bed.

Jarvis greets her with time, weather and news as she scrambles out of bed. Nat's hand drifts to the arc reactor, scratching at the scarred skin surrounding it and tapping the surface repeatedly as she stands in front of the window, looking over the city of her birth lost in thoughts.

Even after all these years Natasha Stark isn't used to the devise embedded in her chest right over her heart. The glow is visible in the reflection of the glass, the bright blue glow she does everything to hide. She stares at the reflection, reminiscing the time when it hadn't been there, when she was still the happy-go-lucky playgirl, billionaire, genius, philanthropist who didn't care about anyone or anything.

Then the Ten Rings had to destroy her carefree life and tossed her into this super hero life with the Avengers. If it wouldn't have made her a more responsible and better person, she might still hold a grudge for keeping her hostage in a cave in Afghanistan and attacking her with a grenade which had forced her to build the arc in the first place. It had changed her life for the better.

Still, the blue circle of light is visible through almost all her clothes, advertising her biggest weakness out to the world. Fancy dresses are impossible to wear and look good in with the arc shining through every single slightly thinner cloth. No surprise then that Natasha doesn't party as much as she had back in her days.

With a sigh Nat turns away from the windows and walks to the bathroom, getting ready for the day. After a shower so that Bruce and Jack wouldn't complain, she rummages through the lower cupboard, pulling out a white round patch, approximately the size of her palm. Thoughtfully she stares at it for some moments before meeting her own gaze in the mirror.

She had let Jarvis design and find a factory for her to produce these patches shortly after the incident in question. The patches are like bigger band-aids which she can put on the reactor to cover the light. It had taken some experimenting because her skin would get irritated when the patches were attached on it but with smaller patches everything had worked out in the end. Fortunately her greatest invention doesn't grow hot.

The miniaturized arc reactor is a far better investment than any weapons SI could ever build. Her father had thought it a dead end but being forced to come up with a solution for living despite shrapnel trying to pierce her heart, had brought this new technology into her hands. She has to thank the blue circle of light for a new life and SI thank her for a new direction. No more people will die because she doesn't care what she builds and whom it's sold to.

After putting a patch on the blue circle of light, Natasha leaves to continue working on her projects from last night before Steve had interrupted her. For a moment she wonders why she didn't mind and still, doesn't.

The talk with him had been very insightful and, to be honest, surprising. She had not expected him to actually not just ignore her presence but to enjoy it. Natasha shakes her head as Jarvis takes her down with the elevator. This is just crazy but a welcome change. Her childhood hero likes her. That's a strange thought. For half of her life she had adored the figure of Captain America, then he turned out to be a dick to her. The apology felt good since she never got one from Howard in his lifetime because he had never gotten over the fact that she wasn't a boy and not like his late friend, the Captain.

She fixes a few things for her company before Rogers calls her to fix a date for training with the team. Strange, indeed.

XXXXX

Turns out, the team wouldn't have needed the training. The Graviton's working is pretty self explanatory and the team reacts in just the right ways. On Saturday morning the team gets ready, just waiting in camouflage around the Mall for the arrival of the Cabal. They don't want to give away their advantage. Until the last minute Natasha, who sits with her sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled down deeply into her face in a cafe, doubts that they will show up and believes (hopes) that Doom had lied about this attack. When suddenly a black hover craft zooms down the street and Leader shows up at the edge, a grin on his face, Nat finds her hopes shattered. She jumps up and directs Jarvis over her earpiece to bring in the suit. The Avengers decided to not bring in the counter devise immediately so they won't give away that they were warned and will be able to catch all the villains.

'Dear citizens of New York.', he addresses the people on the streets who had already noticed the arrival of the Cabal. His voice is sounding over the speakers of the hideous and ridiculous vehicle. All of the Cabal are all known villains to the city so there is no doubt in the people what this is about. There is a certain panic but also resignation in the air which impresses Natasha. There aren't as many cries and yells as there had been during the first attacks on the city. What follows is one of the many times rehearsed, annoying speeches of demands the Cabal dictates to the city less it wreaks havoc on it. Pathetic.

Natasha rolls her eyes but still is relieved when Jay brings her suit in position for her. Some people turn around when the whooshing of her armor cuts through the air, some cheer when she takes off just as Leader ends his demonstration of levitating some parked cars to frighten the citizens. How impressive can it be though when the people know the Avengers are close by?

Natasha flies up to the hovering vehicle. Jarvis shows her the location about her teammates and the counter devise. She brushes the information aside and flies up to be in the line of vision of the super villain who thought it a good idea to threaten her city. Why can't those super villains never learn?

'Stark.' Leader snarls. Nat can spot the insecurity in him as to how she had gotten here so quickly and if that means her teammates are close by as well. It fills her with satisfaction, although Leader tries to gloss over it.

'Hey, ugly, what's up?', she greets him with a hidden smile. That doesn't do so she flips her face plate up.

He looks around, looking for the rest of the team. 'Alone?', he asks.

Natasha shrugs. 'Your bad luck. You just had to ruin my free day. Now I have to ruin yours. One could almost be sorry.', she muses. She doesn't feel sorry at all.

A satisfied grin spreads on Leader's face. 'Actually, it's good. You can be the first to fall.', he promises.

'Yeah? We'll see about that.', she retorts. Leader doesn't pull out the Graviton but a gun, pointing it at her. She easily dodges the energy blast. 'Gotta try a little harder than that.' The face plate snaps shut again, Jarvis readying the suit for battle.

Before he can fire again though, a red, white and blue shield comes flying in, knocking the gun from his hand and returns to the hand of Captain America who stands on a near rooftop.

'Where are the others?', Leader asks. A roar of Hulk splits the momentary silence. 'Oh, I think he has found Attuma.' Somehow this doesn't worry Leader. MODOK has already engaged Agents Romanov and Barton in a fight as she can hear over the com. 'I trust you will find this most interesting, Stark. You might be the only apart from Banner of your little team to appreciate our new weapon.' Almost loving he caresses the Graviton which he pulls out from under him. Suddenly he looks up and points the weapon at her. 'Such a shame you'll never be able to do that.'

Natasha raises her hand to shoot him and his vehicle down with a repulsor blast. Leader, without losing eye contact with her, turns the weapon on Steve and activates it. The soldier hovers in the air. She can hear his displeasure though Steve tries not to show it. 'One move and he'll quicker reach the ground than you can shoot me. So, what's it gonna be? Saving New York or your friend?'

Her eyes flit between them. 'How 'bout both?', she quips, her mind running a mile a minute. Fortunately her voice stays as calm and as lighthearted as ever.

Leader flips the devise off. Natasha turns away and dives after Cap. There is no time for a thought and none is needed. She pulls out of her dive just soon enough to catch Steve in midair without hurting him too much, one arm wrapped around his waist, then pulls up again so they wouldn't crash into the ground.

'Thanks.' He seems to have doubted she would chose save her teammate. Of course it might have been the best decision to take Leader down and let Steve die but that's not her style.

Nat grins. 'Any time, gorgeous.'

'I'm not a damsel in distress, Stark.', Steve complains, probably rolling his eyes.

'Since I am a knight in shining armor and I just saved you, that makes you by default my damsel in distress.', Natasha teases. With a grin she which he can't see, she puts him down on the street. 'You'll be fine here, I trust? Don't get hurt, princess.'

Steve grins back as she flies off, already on his way back to the fight.

'Status?', she asks as she approaches the hovering vehicle again. Leader had tried to bring a little distance between himself and a possibly angry Iron Woman.

'I have registered three Graviton devises in the vicinity. MODOK, Attuma and Leader appear to have one. All are currently engaged in fights with the Avengers. Attuma attempts to flood the Hulk out of the city.', Jarvis supplies.

That's not very surprising. Hulk is the only one who can challenge Attuma's strength. 'Does any of them need help?'

'It would appear not, Miss. Hulk is holding his ground, Agents Romanov and Barton managed to draw MODOK away from the crowd.'

Good. 'Calculate the reach of our counter devise.', she instructs Jarvis. They had believed that the Cabal only owns one Graviton, not three. Where had they gotten the other parts from? Maybe there is another, easier way to build these devises, Nat muses, her mind circling around that part especially. Plus, will they be close enough to their machine to counteract the Gravitons? It's hidden near the Mall, they didn't think the fight would spread over the city.

'Calculating.' She almost reaches Leader's car which now flies to reunite with one of his allies. 'Radius approximately 1.2 miles. All Graviton devises are in vicinity to be rendered useless.'

'Good. On my command.' On the ground Natasha notices the rising water the closer she gets to Hulk's location where Leader is heading. It's at least three inch high by now and that throughout this part of the city.

'Where are you?', Steve asks over the com.

She passes through her location. MODOK, according to Tasha and Barton, also heads towards where Hulk and Antman fight Attuma. It surprised them all to see what a good team those two make. The Cabal tries to rejoin their forces to fight the Avengers using the Graviton.

Nat tries to bring Leader's craft down but he dodges most blows. Attuma is too busy not being squashed by Hulk who doesn't like the water at all. MODOK reaches the scene at the same time, Hawkeye and Black Widow close behind him on their hover bikes. Leader pulls up the Graviton again as he stops the vehicle next to MODOK and right over Attuma. They point their weapons at the surrounding buildings. At the highest setting the Graviton would easily be able to lift it up and destroy this part of the city in seconds. The Avengers bottle them up, waiting for their next move. Clint and Tasha look worn but pleased with themselves for being able to fight off MODOK. Leader grins, hoping the rest of the plan would work out.

'Give up the city and fulfill our claims or we will destroy the city!', Leader demands, confident they would give in immediately when he uses the Graviton to lift up a car and let it crash into an empty shop.

Clint's bike hovers close to his vehicle. 'Never.', he declares proudly, his shield ready to be thrown.

Leader snarls. MODOK isn't sorry and Attuma is still a little busy with calming Hulk enough to not be killed though all the water does little to cool Bruce's temper. 'As you wish, Captain.'

'Activate.', Nat instructs Jarvis, not audible for the Cabal.

Leader grins as he presses the button. The grin fades slowly when nothing happens. 'What?' Angrily he presses the button again.

'Do something!' Attuma insists, propelling himself from the ground to get away from Hulk. The villains panic, facing the assembled might of the Avengers without their special devise. MODOK looks ready to make a run for it. Leader apparently agrees secretly. He stares at her with unveiled insecurity.

Natasha feels her repulsors shiver. She ignores the strange sensation and raises her hand. 'Run.', she whispers as much as her speakers allow it. Just when she wants to destroy the engine of the vehicle, her armor gives another jolt. The Cabal starts to flee just when her thrusters give out. Natasha yelps when the ground suddenly comes closer rather quickly. She flails her arms and legs but it's of no use. 'Jarvis!', she yells but the AI is offline as well as the suit.

Her coms are offline when she hits the street not as hard as she expected. Fortunately the floor was less than 80 feet away. She feels herself being supported by two arms who softly lower her to the ground. Given that her suit is still offline, she can't see anything yet nor can she orientate herself. Cap's 'Stark!' is clearly audible despite the layer of steel mesh separating the source of the call from Nat's ear. The armor is too heavy to stand up just yet with her ears still ringing from the fall. There is some pain in her back from the fall but she had taken worse.

The counter devise goes offline seconds later and Jarvis opens up the suit. 'Nat!' Steve looms over her, panic and worry in his eyes. She can't hold back the laugh. She is alive after all and barely hurt. No need to fuss like this.

'Did you see his face?', Natasha forces out. She lets herself being helped up by Steve and tumbles against him, laughing. Steve keeps her up. 'Jarvis, have you recorded that? Oh god, that was priceless.' She can't help but laugh even more.

'You're bleeding.' Steve looks a little flustered by her reaction, his eyes are fixed on her hairline.

'What?' Nat tries to get a grip on herself. Her laughter subsides slowly. She raises a hand to her forehead, finding a tiny bit of blood. 'Oh. It's nothing.' She waves it off. She barely feels it. Her mind is already racing around the fact that the devise shouldn't have done a thing to her armor and still plucked her out of the sky. She would need to reevaluate the situation. The Cabal fortunately hadn't seen the effect this has had on her. The rest of the team assembles around the pair with the exception of Hulk who is busy calming down now that the threat is gone.

'I don't know about you but I am starving.', Natasha announces. Fury can wait for his report until tomorrow, or Monday for all she cares.

Barton agrees and Romanov isn't complaining either. Steve looks like he might disagree but eventually he accepts that she is fine and ready to get some food.

Dinner is short and Bruce tries to evade it but they drag him along. He and Scott had made a good team. Later that night they are back home, celebrating with a sulking Jack Hart.

'Scotch?', she asks when she enters her empty and dark apartment.

'Yes, please.', is the drawled, royal, answer. She flips on the light and makes her way to the bar without looking at the brunet man.

'Why am I not surprised?', Natasha asks more herself than von Doom.

'Because you have more sense than your friends.', he states with a smirk. 'You doubted me, didn't you?', Doom asks again.

'Would you have?'

'Guess not. It was fun working with you again though.' Victor, Doom, damn it, says. He comes closer to the bar and sits down on the stool in front of Natasha.

'No, it was not. We aren't friends and we aren't working together. This is a thank you scotch for warning us but this doesn't mean we are buddies now nor that we team up.'

'Oh, Stark, now you wound me.' He accepts the glass she slides over the counter. Natasha decides not to drink something because she's still drunken on their victory over the Cabal. 'We would make great friends.', Doom insists.

'I don't think so.' She crosses her arms.

Doom seems very surprised. 'You didn't seem to mind my help. So am I supposed to not warn you anymore when I happen to know of a threat you are unaware of?' He asks with a tilt of his head.

Natasha scowls. 'You know what I mean. I cannot just allow you to come and go as you please.', she insists. Her team doesn't deserve to be called upstairs. Somehow her resolution of shunning Doom is gone in a poof. She blames it on the grandiose victory today and her good mood. What he has about himself that makes her forget all her irritation, Natasha can't tell.

Doom raises his eyebrows but doesn't seem fazed. He shrugs as if she just told him that she could just offer him her best scotch instead of her best whiskey. 'I will knock if you insist.'

She groans in frustration. 'Not what I meant!'

He rolls his eyes, then downs his drink. 'Then I thank you for the drink and congratulate you to defeating the Cabal. Even without my help I am sure that you would have managed just fine.' It sounds genuine enough.

Natasha hums when he stands up, ignoring the pang of disappointment.

'I am just sorry you fell. That had not been my intention.' He comes around the counter. Natasha instinctively backs away, considering to call in her armor. But before she can activate her wristlet, Doom reaches her. He doesn't look intimidating (at least not more than usual). He smiles a little about her reaction. 'Let me.' There is a green wisp of magic dancing around the tips of his fingers as he reaches up to touch the small wound on her forehead. The tingling is the only indication that indeed something is happening.

Von Doom smiles at her as Natasha glances up suspiciously. 'Good night, Miss Stark. Till we meet again.'

Before she can even blink, Doom is gone.


	9. Chapter 9

**Day 4 and still going.  
**

* * *

CHAPTER 9

Bruce insists to check up on her later that evening, wondering where her wound had vanished to. Natasha claims that it hadn't been much from the beginning which it actually hadn't, just a minor cut on the forehead. She says she used some of her synthetic flesh improvement which can be used to repair scratches that aren't too deep. A further body check shows no damage. It's totally unnecessary but Nat doesn't argue so that Bruce wouldn't get suspicious.

Strange would have probably been able to sense who healed her so it makes Nat feel very lucky that he doesn't happen to be anywhere around for the next few days until all the excitement has died down again. Doom doesn't show up either fortunately so Nat doesn't have to arrest him or pointlessly attack him and his technologically impregnable force fields. Somehow she doubts herself that she would actually do it. Nat had wanted to deal with the evil ex dictator by now but always finds herself unable to send him away or call in the team or kill him whenever they face each other. She is unsure that this feeling would change in the near future, whatever that feeling might be. He challenges her, that is all, she tells herself repeatedly but a part of Natasha doesn't quite believe it.

Anyway, life goes on as usual. Mornings are either reserved for sleeping or training with Jack, afternoons for sciencing with Bruce or working on some tech for SI or herself and the team, evenings for finishing tasks or hanging out with the team. Life is good and not even Pepper bothers her too much with tasks.

That is at least until the Monday a week later. Just as most Avengers are out, the alarm blares through the Tower. It's early in the morning, Agents Romanov and Barton accompanied Steve to SHIELD headquarters in Washington, Scott had taken a few days off to drive somewhere with his daughter and Bruce is again off to some distant country trying to get rid of his 'condition'.

Jack looks up from his tablet to where Natasha sits over her breakfast. His eyes shine with hope for a few moments but he holds back to not seem overly eager.

Natasha puts down her fork, not wanting to get Jack all nervous. 'Jarvis, status report.', she says after eating the last of her bacon. Today at least no one forbids her that small joy in life. It's been a long night, anyway.

'Attack in Hell's Kitchen. Unknown enemy but the streets appear to be flooded.', Jarvis reviews the satellite pictures.

Natasha nods absentmindedly. 'How many?'

Jarvis brings up a screen. A lot of red blips are in the street view, marking the unknown force. 'At least 50 confirmed, Miss.'

'Alright. Ready my armor.' She then turns to Jack. He looks like a kicked puppy, ready to be told to stay home. Nat almost grins. 'Dress up. Meet you in two on the platform.' The man hurries off immediately, an excited glow brightens his cheeks, like she had just done him the greatest favor ever. She doesn't even reach the hallway before the suit folds up in front of her. Dum-E beeps behind it, shoving the undersuit into Natasha's waiting hands. It was a good idea to stash the suit upstairs in her workshop. Within one and a half minutes she stands on the platform, surveying the city. Jack already is ready, fidgeting around. Of course he wouldn't want to miss the chance of finally going into battle for a real Avengers mission. He was already in his suit and just had to fetch his equipment. He must have waited for this for months.

'You ready?', she asks. There is no need to get the Quinjet since they both can fly. 'Careful, kid. Don't make me regret this.' She flips down her face plate and lifts off. 'Connect us, Jay. Jack?' There is a cracking in the line, then it's gone.

'Hear you loud and clear, Miss Stark.' Jack still grins from the sound of it.

'Good. Follow me.', Natasha instructs him as she heads off to where whoever attacks her city again. It doesn't even take them a minute to get there, especially since she doesn't has to hold back with her speed with only Jack around. When they come in sight, Nat recognizes the foes immediately. She scowls as she makes out Attuma's form in the masses of his warriors. Damn it, of course he would be out for revenge.

'Hit them hard on their breathing apparatus.', Nat instructs when they fly in closer. There is chaos on the streets, running people and weapons firing.

He stops midair next to her, overlooking the scene. 'Won't they die?' Jack sounds genuinely worried.

Natasha shakes her head. 'Nah. Not immediately. They have enough time to draw back to the ocean.', she says. 'So don't attack them once their systems are down.' Not even her enemy would deserve to suffocate in their atmosphere. They are lead by Attuma, it's not really their fault they are here.

'Understood.' Jack nods, getting ready.

A smile curls her lips when the brash young man doesn't just dash off to fulfill what he thinks are his tasks. Maybe she had trained him well after all. 'Alright, let's get going.'

XXXXX

Natasha raises her palm, firing a repulsor ray at the Atlantean. That means, she tries but her circuits have been fused by the last hit she took. 'Damn it.', Nat mutters. Instead of destroying his breathing apparatus, she activates her boot jets and knocks him off his feet. She is back on the ground, looking for more of the attackers to take out.

'Jack?' Nat knows she sounds worried but it doesn't matter. She hadn't heard from him in a while when they got separated, fighting on different streets. She just needs to know how he fares. It's a good thing though that he didn't call for help yet. It might as well be a bad sign and he just doesn't call because he wants to prove himself, getting killed in the process.

'I'm on 42nd street, Miss Stark. And.. it looks bad if I might say so.', is the immediate reply. He sounds like he might be freaking out.

'What is it?', she asks, now clearly more worried for her protege.

'I.. would like to say I know. It's big and certainly looks dangerous.' She rolls her eyes. As if Jack would know much about weapon systems. It's her own fault for asking.

'I'm on my way.', she confirms after checking out the rest of the street to make sure that there would be no attack from this side. All Atlanteans are out cold or are retreating to the ocean. She lets them go, no jail would hold them anyway and she doesn't want them to die just because their boss is a dick.

'Hurry.', is the slightly pressed answer from Jack.

As soon as Natasha gets in sight, she realizes how right the heart sprinkled man is. A big canon is being dragged down the street from the water side. Twenty Atlanteans are needed to move it despite the wheels. Jack is flying around them, dodging the blasts from the other warriors while trying to take out as many of the carriers as he can but it is quite pointless since every single one of them is being replaced immediately.

'Shoot the wheels.', she instructs Jack over the com after taking a look at Jarvis' scans, not finding any other weaknesses.

'Got you, Miss Stark.', he agrees. She doesn't want to risk firing a missile among the Atlanteans. The Avengers don't take lives as long as there is another possibility. And as far as Natasha can judge, there are plenty.

The repulsors and Jack's blast cut through the metal like butter.

Forcing the machine to move further becomes impossible for the Atlanteans even as more of them try to help the twenty pushing it onwards when a few wheels are missing. It's too heavy to be moved without the wheels just as Nat suspected. She can make out Attuma just on top of the devise, he had been ready to use it for whatever purpose.

Jack spots him at the same time, making out the threat in an instance. The gun doesn't move anymore and it's not where it's supposed to be. Attuma realizes it as well. Nat thinks he curses, then he turns and sounds the retreat. 'I'll get him!', Jack of Hearts declares, reminding his mentor of just how young and inexperienced he truly is.

'Jack!' Nat groans when he jets off further. Her training hadn't been that thorough after all. It doesn't matter if they catch Attuma or not, they won't keep him after all. A prison won't hold him and killing him might be a tempting option but not really a valid one.

A blast hits her in the back, letting her plummet to the ground. It's a good thing the coms went offline as well because Jack really shouldn't hear the curses tumbling out of Nat's mouth when she hits the street. Fortunately for herself is that she hadn't been flying to high so Nat barely feels the impact.

Jarvis is trying his best to bring her back up and all systems online. Some of the Atlanteans apparently chose to ignore the retreat and ready the weapon, maybe to buy Attuma some time. The giant construct aims right at her when it activates. There is almost no time to worry for Natasha.

She throws her arms up to cover her face, shield herself a little from the impact she can't avoid anymore. Nat closes her eyes to steel herself against the pain that doesn't follow.

When she opens her eyes there is a green hue in the air between her and it ripples because of the blast's impact. Natasha frowns while trying to analyze the situation. What the hell? The Atlanteans' expressions mirror her own. She follows their gazes to her right hand side.

'Oh, you gotta be kidding me.', Natasha mutters under her breath.

'You are very welcome.', von Doom says with a smile, reaching a hand down to help her up, not even looking at her. Without thinking Natasha accepts the offered hand while the Atlanteans continue to shoot the force field around them without penetrating it, the retreat is all but forgotten. Doom is in full battle regalia including the mask.

'What are you doing here?', she asks without reacting to his prompt when her systems come back online and Jarvis gets the suit ready for the fight that would surely follow.

'Why, someone lately told me that actions speak louder than words. I couldn't just stand by, now, could I?' Doom turns back to the advancing forces. The Atlanteans form a circle, pointing their weapons at the unlikely couple.

'I don't need your help.', Natasha insists. Jarvis informs her that her repulsors are online again and her flightpower has been fully restored. Still, she doesn't insist on Doom leaving her alone with a hundred angry Atlanteans to face. The coms aren't online yet. Damn Jack, why did he have to fly away just now?

'I know.', Doom answers with a smile. He doesn't leave. He raises his hand and points at the giant weapon some of the attackers ready again.

With a combined blast from Doom and Nat's repulsors the canon is torn to shreds. Most Atlanteans had been insecure after the flight of their leader. Now there is little doubt in them what to do. Most drop their weapons and make a hasty exit.

Natasha smiles, then turns around to actually really thank Doom but finds him already gone as if he never has been there at all. For a moment she wonders what that was all about. It's a good five minutes later when her real side kick comes back to the scene, landing next to her.

'Wow.', Jack breathes.

Some Atlanteans are still lying unconscious on the ground but a SHIELD team is already there to 'clean up' after them. The streets are full of remnants of the destroyed weaponry. 'Where's Attuma?', Natasha asks already guessing the answer.

Jack snaps back to the present. 'Got away. Sorry.' And he sounds regretful as well. It's strange.

'It's okay.', she says, shrugging. It matters little anyway.

'How did you do this? That's just.. so cool.', he sounds awed. Jack motions at the machinery blown to bits and their opponents who have been knocked out. 'Can I learn that? That were at least two hundred!'

Nat takes a deep breath to tell him that it wasn't that hard and though she wants to keep Doom's involvement quiet, she hadn't done much. 'Comes with practise, kid. So if you stick around with me for some years, maybe some of my awesomeness will rub off.', she quips instead.

Jack nods as if not doubting her words for one second.

'Let's head home, kiddo.', Natasha suggests. Her suit could need some minor repairs and he looks a little worn as well. 'Wanna head to a restaurant first?', she asks.

'Er, I'd rather not.' Jack blushes slightly (not even the mask can hide that), motioning at his suit.

Nat smiles, understanding. 'Finally accepting that hearts aren't very threatening?', she asks nevertheless. This might be the perfect opportunity to get out of being seen and associated with a man in heart sprinkled tights.

He rolls his eyes. 'I just don't want to go into a restaurant.'

She raises an eyebrow at him. 'Because of the suit, right?' He finally has to learn that he is no bigger threat to the city than any of the other Avengers.

He pokes out his tongue. 'I just think one menace a day is enough for the people of the city.', Jack says with a fake smile. So this has done absolutely nothing to get him more comfortable with who he is now.

Natasha nods in understanding. It'll take time but she'll convince him eventually. A superhero afraid of what he can do is worse than any villain after all. 'Well then let's head home. I'll cook us something.'

After showering, checking in with the other Avengers and SHIELD and making finally some food for the two of them, they sit down in the living room to munch on Nat's self-made dinner. She prefers not to have to cook after a mission but she understands Jack's worries. None other but Bruce might understand truly why Jack doesn't want to be around other people if not strictly necessary.

Jack grimaces over the dinner. It barely dims his enthusiasm though.

'Your own fault.', Nat blames him. 'That's the only thing I can do, at least the others tell me so after years of cooking together. I mean the sauce is precooked but, you know, I had the PR management draft something for the food market. I sampled of course, and my name stands on the glass so it's like I made it myself.', Nat rambles on while eating the spaghetti with tomato sauce.

Jack doesn't stop talking about the mission during the whole movie they watch for the hundredth time. Natasha smiles through it, knowing how giddy she had been after using the Iron Woman armor for the first time in Gulmira, so she lets him talk it off.

It's some hours later and some more talking about the incident before Natasha makes it up into her penthouse, ready to drop into bed and don't stand up again until the others are back again.

A sheet of folded paper rests on her nightstand. It's expensive, thick and cream colored. She eyes it distrusting for some moments like it might burst into flames. Natasha picks it up and opens it. A curly, neat scripture in black covers three lines.

"Was fun today. If you ever don't need 'help' again, call me. Sincerely, Victor."

There is a cellphone number written on the note. Natasha rolls her eyes but doesn't throw it away right away. She folds up the piece of paper and puts it away so none of the others would stumble accidentally across it while looking for her.

Damn him,she decides, lying down on her soft bed. 'Not a team.', she says into the empty room. 'And this is creepy on more than one level.' A really big part of Natasha hopes that she is just being paranoid. Moments later Jarvis dims the lights and darkens the windows. Natasha falls asleep sooner than she anticipated.

XXXXX

'Cap. You're back early.', she notes with a smile, looking up from her armor. Natasha had withdrawn to the workshop. Steve has as one of the only ones a keycard that admits him access at all times. It's not even lunch but somehow Nat had woken early today, being well rested and by now well fed.

'Why didn't you call us in?', he immediately demands to know. There is a firm frown edged on his face.

Natasha rolls her eyes. 'Because we had it under control, Captain Obvious?'

Steve crosses his arms, not willing to let it go. 'Attuma attacked New York. That could have easily been more than you and Hart could handle.' Disapproval taints his voice.

'But it wasn't.', Nat gives back, pulling her arms out of her armor to cross them. She saved the day (Doom was merely her sidekick as far as she is involved), she surely wouldn't let Rogers yell at her for that now. 'Furthermore, why don't I even get a good morning?', she wants to know, trying to throw him off balance. He is the good guy, good guys don't come rushing into someone's labs and start telling them off. Uncool.

Steve groans. 'We fight together, as a team.', he declares, ignoring her question. 'Just because you want to show off..' Steve stops talking immediately, realizing his mistake. He looks very uncomfortable suddenly.

Nat clenches her hands to fists, feeling her temper rising. 'What the hell?! Showing off? Hold your breath for a moment.', she snarls. Lucky Steve that she isn't in her armor currently or this might take a different turn.

Steve raises both hands to placate her. 'Nat.'

She shakes her head. 'No. We had it under control.', Natasha insists, feeling like yelling a little more at him but holding back for the moment when she sees all fight leaving him. Even the disapproving frown is gone which he probably wore since he heard about the attack.

'I know. I just hate that you put yourself in danger like that. I don't want to lose a teammate.', he says, slowly letting his arms come down again.

Nat still glares at him. She doesn't need him to worry nor him to tell her what to do. 'I fought my own battles years without the team.'

'But you don't need to anymore. I was.. worried when I heard about the attack.' He smiles sheepishly, trying his damn best to lighten the situation.

'No need to fret about me, Captain.', she answers with a smile, willing to let this slide for now. She uncrosses her arms. 'I hope this wasn't the only reason for your hasty return.'

'Er..'

Natasha laughs out loud. Of course it was.

'What?', he wants to know.

Nat shakes her head. 'That's just so typical. Wanna grab some lunch?', she asks, wiping her hands on a dirty cloth. She would have to send Dum-E to get some new rags for the workshop.

Steve smiles and nods. 'I grabbed something on the way from the airport. Your favorite Thai.', he says after a short pause when Nat picks up on his teasing tone. She grins suddenly. This had been a check up call all along and not the feared 'I'll bench you for the rest of the year' talk.

'You planned this.', Natasha accuses.

'Just.. don't give us a scare like that again.' Steve looks as if he would like to hug her. Nat hadn't realized how worried Steve would get over his city and his teammates. She smiles at him and bumps his shoulder (or rather his arm given the height difference) as she walks to the door.

'Where are the others?'

'Tasha and Clint are still in Washington.', Steve says as they climb the stairs.

'See? Who was I supposed to call? It was barely worth the trouble flying there.'

'Still, Jack said you took on most of them yourself. Maybe you were right about him.' Nat can tell that he shakes his head behind her. 'Following Attuma alone. Not to imagine what would have happened if he caught up with him. Leaving you alone to defend the city.'

'Don't be too hard on him. Jack did well for his first time. Just remember us when we first worked as a team. You nearly got me hacked to pieces, so the kid did quite well.'


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Natasha and Jack are giving a party to celebrate his first successful mission because that obviously needs to be done after the terrible day after they had. In the end, Fury talked them out of being euphoric about their victory over Attuma by talking it to death. Gosh, he even bored Spangles though he was a good scout boy and pretended to care till the very end. Jack looked downcast half way through the speech when the Director chastised him because he left Natasha alone to deal with the Atlanteans, his mood being worsened by a disapproving Steve who apparently had had a 'talk' with him the night before or right before this freaking meeting. Nat condemned them all and told Fury a few of her ideas of where exactly he can put that debriefing of his as his agents had been far away when the city was attacked and she didn't see any of them to help her either. With that she strode out of the room, followed by a still pouting Jack.

Bruce might be back from his journey but hides in his room, however, Thor had come for a surprise visit from Asgard and takes his place at the party. Scott hangs around at the bar with some of the scientists Natasha had invited. Steve looks highly uncomfortable when some woman wants to ask him to dance. Tasha and Clint stand in the corner of the room, chattering quietly and observing the crowd, probably making a game out of thinking up the most creative, inconspicuous, way of killing one or all of them.

In the past three years there hadn't been half as many parties as Nat is used to. Ever since Afghanistan she also hadn't felt like throwing so many. But with her new friends living in her home, she has more reasons again to pretend to be in the mood for these kinds of events. Everyone seems to still think of her as the party girl so Nat has a reputation to live up to. In truth she hadn't enjoyed this kind of entertainment for some time now. It had been something she had wanted to like because it was familiar, reminded her of the past, so that at least for some hours Natasha could still pretend that none of that crap had ever happened.

She watches come couples on the dance floor, ignoring the bitterness that raises from the pit of her stomach.

Pepper walks up on her and forces her thoughts to return to the present and away from the unfairness of life in general. 'You shouldn't be drinking.', Natasha gets greeted with that disapproving glance to her glass of champagne.

'And you should be judging quietly.', she gives back, sipping on her drink just for the show. Happily she smiles when she spots Jack in the small crowd. He chats with some girls. Actually she is surprised Jack even allowed her to bring all these innocent people in his vicinity but she surely won't complain that he starts to loosen up.

Pepper sighs but stops arguing. 'You still remember our meeting Wednesday?', she asks.

Natasha rolls her eyes. 'Thinking about nothing else, my dear.', she assures her red haired friend. Jarvis would remind her. Maybe she would even listen.

'Well then.' Nat doesn't like the grin directed at her.

'Let's just hope no villain attacks the city on that bright day.' Still four days separate them from that special day. With any luck Attuma would try again till then or give her another reason not to show up for that boring meeting.

Pepper glares at her slightly hopeful tone. 'It's a nice party.', she compliments after some moments, finally dropping the subject.

Natasha hums in agreement. Pepper excuses herself soon enough to go dancing with Happy, leaving Nat standing on the edge of the dancing floor. They are perfect for each other, Nat thinks when she watches the couple dance. Happy might annoy her at times and he might disapprove of her 'lax habits' considering security but they complement each well.

'Hey.' Steve approaches with a sigh. He sounds relieved beyond words.

Nat hadn't even seen him coming over. 'Weren't you just chatting with that lovely lady?', she asks with a grin when she takes a sip of her drink, being glad that someone distracts her before she can get too bitter.

Steve grimaces. 'In case someone asks, this is top secret Avengers business.' When Natasha starts laughing out loud because of his adorable and obvious excuse, he grins as well.

'Don't you like dancing?', Nat inquires after some moments, turning to him to make the lie more believable. Good lord, he really has no idea how things like this work.

He huffs out a laugh. 'I do. But only with a special partner and not, well, her.' He blushes slightly and evades meeting Nat's eyes.

'Who was she?' She traces his steps back and spots a familiar face. Natasha pities the poor girl who was turned down rather rudely by Steve's standards. 'I think Sharon rather nice.', she objects.

'She is nice but.. ' He leaves the sentence unfinished. His back hunches slightly when he spots Sharon watching in their direction. Steve immediately looks back to Natasha. She smirks and turns in his direction, her eyes though not leaving the blonde.

'Then, pray tell, what is the great Steve Rogers looking for in a woman?', she teases, not being able to resist sneaking another peek at the beautiful blonde. Out of the corner of her eyes, Natasha sees him straighten up. The silence isn't too uncomfortable though.

'Er, well..' Steve stutters. Natasha chuckles, trying to hide it behind her glass. 'Would you like to..?'

Nat frowns suddenly when she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. 'One sec. Hold that thought.' She smiles at Cap and raises a finger as she pulls out her phone. Caller ID unknown. Jarvis would never patch through an unknown caller when she is busy if it is not an absolute emergency.

'Hello?' She is met with silence. 'Who is there?', Nat asks a little bit more aggressive.

'To your left.', is the calm reply. She looks as indicated and isn't really surprised anymore when she spots Doom leaning on a doorway, cellphone in hand. He grins sharply, then hangs up and turns to the corridor, fully expecting her to follow.

For some moments she stares at the blank display. She is sorely tempted to leave that bastard waiting for a rather long time.

'Who was it?', Steve asks with a smile, trying to salvage the situation. 'Nothing wrong, I hope?'

'I hope so too. It was no one, really.' She returns her attention to him with a smile. She is no one's puppet.

Steve forces a smile, scratching the back of his neck.

' So, where were we?' She steps closer to him. 'I think we can adjourn the emergency meeting.' She motions to the left with her head. Steve follows her gaze to where Sharon is leaving the room.

Steve smiles gratefully. 'Thanks. But we could still.. maybe dance?', he asks with a little blush.

Natasha looks up into the baby blue eyes which are now trained on her. 'I-' She doesn't know how to answer to that and fortunately she doesn't has to. She doesn't need Spangles to pity her.

'Well, hello, Miss Stark.', a drawling voice interrupts the exchange. Steve jumps away from her as if Natasha burned him and he just yet realized how close they stood.

'Oh, what the fucking hell?!' With a groan she turns around to face a grinning Doom. He is dressed in an impeccable suit. 'What are you doing here?', Natasha demands to know. She should have known he wouldn't just leave her alone and go.

Doom raises his dark eyebrows at her. 'I believed this is a party. I am here to celebrate your victory over the evil forces.' He smiles widely. 'Can I talk to you?' His attempt to lure her away from the others isn't very subtle but then again, he wore a green cape and a metal mask for the best part of their acquaintance so maybe inconspicuousness isn't his stronghold. Neither is it hers.

'No, get a hint.', Nat cries out indignantly. She is tempted to throw him out before anyone can figure out what Doomsy is doing in her living room.

'Oh, don't be like that. Not gonna blow up the Tower, pinky promise.' She huffs out a mirthless laugh. Oh, this is so ridiculous. If Nat tips off Rogers on who is standing in front of them, Doom would spill the beans on their collaborations and, as she knows Cap, she would get thrown out of her own Tower and the team. And Victor might blow up the whole party if his jab is anything to go by if Steve makes one wrong move.

Doom doesn't seem to have the slightest worries though that Rogers might recognize him. Or maybe he just has enough tricks up his sleeve to not care. It's a game for him, had always been ever since he got his brand new face to show off.

'Who is that?', Steve asks, frowning ever so slightly at their exchange. His eyes attempt to take in both of them at once as he tries to make sense to any of this.

'No one.', Nat answers before Doom has a chance to get involved. She glares at the brunet man. Can't he just shut up and get out of her home? Why does he has to make everything more complicated? This will end bad for her, Natasha just knows that. Doom can play with the fire all he wants, he only shouldn't drag her into this mess.

Victor mocks hurt by putting a hand over his heart. 'You wound me, Stark.' If she would not know who stands in front of her, Natasha might be tempted to find that funny and somehow endearing.

She huffs, rolling her eyes. 'Oh, please. You make me laugh.'

Doom smiles sickly sweet and extends his hand to Steve. 'I am Victor. It is an honor to meet the famous Captain Rogers.', he says politely.

Steve shakes his hand. 'How do you know Natasha?', he asks though he sounds a little confused as of the revelation that there are still people he doesn't know from her life who invite themselves to her parties.

'Work.', Doomsy answers casually.

Steve contemplates something for a moment. 'Your voice sounds familiar. Have we met before?' There is a slight frown on the blond's features.

'I do not believe so, Captain.', Doom smiles. Natasha can't ignore the spike of adrenaline in her blood when he uses the same name he calls Rogers in battle. His voice sounds even more like von Doom like this, just the sounds of the modulator are missing, it's a surprise that Steve doesn't tackle the man then and there. She would never admit that this is the very thing she had been craving all evening, a distraction worthy of her attention. Steve is too good a guy to assume something bad of an acquaintance of his teammate.

Steve nods as if understanding.

'Well, I will mingle a bit and we'll talk later, Miss Stark.' Doom inclines his head by a millimeter or so, smiling. 'Enjoy your evening, Captain. ', he says, then von Doom turns around and heads for the door once more. For a moment Nat just stares after him.

'That was interesting.', Steve says, trying to regain her attention. What could he be playing at? What's Doom's plan? Lure her in false security, then snap her neck at her own party? Too obvious. Why risk showing up with all the Avengers in one room just to talk about something? Nat knows he could probably kill them all with a snap of his fingers, she had seen him fight the Atlanteans after all just half a week ago. Only then has Nat realizes what he meant when he had claimed to just toy with the Avengers. At least for him it's no real fight.

'Natasha?' Steve's voice drifts through to her and Nat snaps out of her thoughts.

'What?' She notices that she got so carried away by her thoughts that she doesn't even remember what Steve just said. Usually she is good at talking and at the same time not paying any attention to a conversation.

Steve doesn't seem to mind too much. He smiles. 'I asked why I have never seen this Victor around before.', he repeats. Nat blinks a few times to regain her focus.

'Er, not sure. He doesn't usually work in America.', Natasha evades the question. 'Would you excuse me?', Nat asks distracted. She stares to where Doom had vanished to. Whatever he might be up to, a mass panic would be highly inadvisable right now. And that's exactly what would happen if Steve grows suspicious or thinks she is worried.

Steve is a little taken aback but nevertheless says, 'Of course.'

Natasha already hurries off to the side, bend on not drawing more attention on herself than necessary but at the same time not caring. It would probably have been advisable to ask for Steve's help now. The jab at the explosion doesn't leave her mind again.

She leaves the room and heads down a corridor, trying to figure out where Doom might have been going on his quest to pose such a big threat that she can't ignore him any longer. Suddenly there is a hand on her forearm, drawing her into an empty training room.

A yelp threatens to leave her mouth but Natasha can just stifle it in time to realize who exactly her attacker is. Though the door is closed right behind her, dipping the room in total darkness, she immediately knows who dragged her here.

'What happened to the lock?', she asks, withdrawing herself from Doom's grasp, crossing her arms. All the private rooms have been locked before the party to ensure no one can stumble in here by accident and get hurt while being drunk. Jarvis should have kept any wanderers out as well.

'Oh, please.' Doom huffs. There is a movement next to them she notices before the lights come on.

She glares at him, unwilling to give an inch of her ground. 'What do you want?', Natasha demands to know.

Victor tilts his head to the side. 'Seriously, I expected a little more gratitude. You didn't even call.' He crosses his arms as well. Something like underlying hurt had entered his voice as if he really expected her to call immediately.

Nat rolls her eyes. 'Well, maybe that was a hint.', she points out.

The easy smile which looks like a smirk is back again. He even uncrosses his arms. 'Don't pretend. You like me.',he claims.

Natasha huffs. 'Most certainly not. Who do you think I am?'

'You can admit it.' His grin is smug. 'You didn't mind that we fought together. We make a great team, I already told you so.'

'I was almost killed. I wouldn't have cared if MODOK chose to step in between.', Natasha gives back. It hadn't been fun. Nope, not at all.

Doom laughs quietly, shaking his head. 'Just continue to tell yourself. You like me.'

'Was there something you wanted?', Nat asks pointedly. 'There is a party I could be at right now.'

He raises an eyebrow. 'To drink and dance with your friends?', he jabs, then shrugs, finally getting down to business. 'Anyway, that's not why I am here.' He grins sharply. It reminds her of a shark. Natasha waits with her arms crossed in annoyance now that she knows that the party is save and Doom won't blow them all up on a whim. 'I thought you'd like to know that there is some breaking and entering going on at your Long Island plant.'

Her eyes widen. 'What? Who? And how do you know?', she adds suspiciously. She wouldn't put it past him to send in his Doombots and inform her that he did just that.

Doom smiles serenely. 'I just saw that man in a strange costume freezing your fence all over. Thought you might want to know that.'

'Doom..', Nat starts in a gloomy voice that is supposed to be promising him all kinds of bad things but she gets interrupted. One of these days..

'Ah-ah-ah. Victor. We don't want your dear boyfriend to catch up, do we?' He sounds overly amused by the situation. She doesn't even correct him. What for? The slight is obvious enough.

Damn him, forcing her into situations like this. 'Fine, Victor.', Nat spits the name out though Spangles couldn't hear them here. Her thoughts race. Someone is at her plant and possibly stealing her tech in this moment while she idly chats with Victor von fucking Doom in the training room of her Tower. She pulls out her phone, threatening him would be a thing for later. 'Jay, footage of the factory.', she instructs.

'No trust in me?', Victor teases with a smirk, not at all offended nor alarmed. Could this really be no trick?

Jarvis brings up just a blank screen. 'No footage found, Miss. It appears to be blocked.', he informs her. Natasha curses. This is bad. Something had breached her security and had come past the rudimentary AI she had installed at the factory. Or Doom is just jamming the signal but what good would that do him?

'Ready my suit ready in 2.'

'He'll be gone by the time you get there.', Doom tells her as Natasha strides to the changing rooms to find something better to wear under the armor than a short red dress. 'Why don't you ask your friends for help?'

'Because this is my business and has nothing to do with them.', she points out. At least he has the decency to stay behind the partition when she yanks her dress over her head to redress in some sweats and a shirt from Tasha.

Doom nods thoughtfully when Nat steps out and heads for the doors to get upstairs to her armor. 'You are still going to be too late.', he points out.

'What am I supposed to do?', she hisses, turning around to where he still leans idly on the wall, looking at his fingernails. 'Stay here and pretend it doesn't happen?'

Doom steps away from the wall, coming dangerously close. Nat can already feel the implanted sensors in her skin vibrate as the armor comes closer. Jay must have send the suit down here to minimize the time loss. It would still take too long to get to the roof and get to the factory to stop that burglar. He would be gone by the time she was upstairs. The thief might be thinking he's got time but considering Doom's words, he is already on his way out with whatever he wanted in his possession.

'That's not at all what I suggest.' Victor still looms over her when the armor assembles around Nat and encased everything but her face. She doesn't want Doom to miss her glare. He steps even closer until they are almost touching. 'You trust me?'

'About as far as I can throw you.', she scowls. Nat knows she should already be on her way, can't lose any more time but she can't tear herself away.

Doom grins. 'As I know you, that should be more than enough.' She can't see the hand on her hip but she can feel the sensors react.

'What are you doing?', she angrily demands to know. His smile widens.

'What do you think? We're a team, Stark. Won't let you go in there alone. So I might as well make sure we are on time.' He draws her a bit closer, then a suffocating feeling settles over Natasha only to dissipate immediately. The cool night air surrounds them. The faint booming of the bass is gone and replaced by the silence of an empty factory. Nat doesn't has to turn to know that her Long Island plant is right behind her, white and rising into the black sky.

'Did we just..', she leaves the question unfinished when Doom lets go and points at a single person running across the lawn to where a big portion of the fence is broken down. She raises her hand and fires a blast to gain his attention and make the thief pause. Grass and dirt fly up where the blast hits the ground a few meters from the thief's feet. It's maybe not the smartest move but at least it stops him for a second.

The ice blast aimed at them is deflected by Victor. He stands tall next to her, ready to face this blizzard together.

'Next time I at least expect the benefit of the doubt.', he teases with a smile.


	11. Chapter 11

**Just for possible timeline issues: Blizzard's attack was on Saturday, something is adapting on Monday and some people don't care on a Tuesday (hope that makes sense at the end of the chapter). It'll be important (more or less) later in the story.**

* * *

CHAPTER 11

Two hours later, after fixing her hair and dress, Natasha is back at the party. Her hair stands a little on edge and she can't suppress the gleeful smile on her face but altogether she thinks no one notices any significant changes. She smooths down her dress a little more to make sure no one sees the wrinkles it sustained when lying on the ground for so long. The adrenaline still courses through her veins, making her feel wide awake. Suddenly the party seems to be very enjoyable.

Doom had brought them to her plant and together they had fought that maniac calling himself Blizzard. She doesn't like to admit it but without him, Blizzard would have gotten away or bested her. It had actually been fun to fight together with Victor alone for once, without the risk of being detected. The party is still in full swing, no one seems to have noticed the host's absence.

'Hi.'

Surprised Natasha turns around to find Steve standing rather close behind her. His eyes take in her appearance. 'Hey, hi.', she replies with a broad smile.

'Where were you?', he asks with a slight frown. Hopefully the blond doesn't guess what she had been doing otherwise Nat wouldn't live this down. Steve would insist that she should have had back-up for the mission, or worse, question her how she got to know and why Jarvis didn't inform them all. And that just assumed he doesn't guess who 'Victor' really is.

She acts unfazed. It's as good a reaction as any. 'What do you mean? I was back there.' Natasha points somewhere to the back which is like a really bad excuse but it seems to work. Maybe he doesn't know that she left the building after all.

'Where is.. your friend?', he asks, looking her over again, disapproval written all over his posture up to the crossed arms.

Oh. _Oh._ That is where this is coming from. 'I didn't show him our compound if that is what you're worried about.' A little irritation creeps into Nat's voice. She rolls her eyes. As if she would be stupid enough. As if she could stop him, a small voice whispers in the back of her mind. As if he wouldn't know by know, an even tinier voice mutters sarcastically. 'He didn't see the any of the private stuff. He wasn't staying long anyway.', she says with a shrug.

The tension seeps out of Steve. 'So he is not your..' He wiggles his fingers in her direction, apparently unsure how to end the sentence. Steve looks slightly embarrassed but for some reason it seems to be important.

Natasha should feel offended, either by being associated like that with Doom or because Steve insinuates that she still wasn't dating anyone. Her good mood is gone in an instance. 'No.', Nat says decisively. She nods to herself as she walks back to the hallway. She suddenly doesn't feel like celebrating anymore.

XXXXX

Stupid Hammer. Stupid, idiotic Hammer. How many times had she fought his stupid inventions only to beat them? This time her competitor had send half an army of Adaptoids to make sure they can beat her. They fairly early copy her repulsor blasts but Natasha is still far more maneuverable. She wonders if this attack has anything to do with the Blizzard's attack two days ago. It would be just like Hammer to test her defenses before attacking himself.

She almost gets blown out of the sky as she gets a little distracted when Jarvis shows her stats and facts about the new Adaptoids. They seem to be more equipped than before and more, well, adapted. Still, Hammer tech would never be on her standards. That doesn't mean she can't have a hard time fighting them to defend her property.

One of them hits her in the back and sends Natasha spiraling down to the ground where the others immediately start firing at her again. She manages to shoot two of them down though Nat doesn't kid herself with thinking that they would stay down for long. Nat gets airborne again and fights the Adaptoids in the air. Pain shoots through her belly but she ignores it, gritting her teeth. The androids aren't sentient but they are intelligent enough to work together and force her into defense more often than not.

They circle Natasha as she dodges several of her own repulsor rays. She should have learned by now to not shoot at them. Then again, Hammer already has stats of them. Nat shouldn't assume that this is always new data these androids collect. She flies around them and has to change tactics every few minutes so they wouldn't be able to adapt to her moves. Nat hits them with everything her suit gives but even to that the Adaptoids adapt. Natasha lures them away from her plant because they seem to only care about taking out her. That worried she even more, what is Hammer's plan?

The Adaptoids try to follow her every movement. Natasha had let Jarvis evacuate the biggest part of the plant. She looks around to find eight of the Adaptoids following her. Natasha takes some narrow corners around some abandoned factory houses to shake them. One of the Adaptoids crashes into a building but the others remain firmly on her trail. At least a little victory, Nat tries to cheer herself.

She would try to call in back-up if it wouldn't be absolutely pointless. After all, Hammer is a known criminal who would steal her tech just to endanger others with it, a worthy cause for the Avengers and not only for her own personal gain. But there had been an incident in Wakanda and T'Challa had requested help. She is the only Avenger who had stayed behind to serve as the reserve.

Even on the best of their days it took at least three Avengers to take out such a squad given their fast rate of adaptation. Another falls before her maneuvering accompanied by firing small missiles and repulsor rays behind her. Another right corner and she is out again in the open on the other side. Six are still behind Natasha and don't waste time to cross the gained distance and attack her again. She stops midair to face them.

'Hello, Stark.'

Natasha groans loudly. 'Oh, what the fuck? What is wrong with you?', she exclaims exasperated, knowing he already somehow hacked into her communication system. She turns in the air to find Victor flying in the air some yards behind her in the backyard of her factory. A green bubble of energy surrounds him, a smug grin lightens his face. He certainly hadn't been there moments ago when she stopped to face her attackers.

'I did not wait for the invitation to join the party.', he doesn't bother with her tone. With a wave of his hand, a few of the Adaptoids get blown away by his magic.

She groans again but doesn't send him away. This might get interesting. The Adaptoids are supposed to imitate any kind of attack, Nat would love to see what they make out of Doom's magic. 'Can't you just leave me alone?', she asks, firing her repulsors at the recovering androids. The words don't carry any anger though, merely curiosity. It's not as if Nat can pretend that help isn't appreciated. Nevertheless, after neither having seen nor heard anything from Victor for almost two days, she assumed he got over his temporary obsession of being a super hero. Natasha doesn't has such luck.

'Apparently as soon as I do you are back in worse trouble than before.', Victor comments with a grin. How he had hacked into her communication system, she cannot fathom. And if he can do that, why can't he simply tear those things apart? Natasha huffs out a laugh when she realizes it. It's for fun, for sport that he pretends to fight them.

'Oh, shut up.', Nat admonishes him.

Victor laughs openly when an Adaptoid gets torn apart by his magic. 'Make me.', he teases with a grin. The sphere in which he stands is impenetrable as she knows from experience. Several blasts from the Adaptoids get deflected and Natasha has to evade them as well as the ones aimed at her.

'You wish.' She rolls her eyes with a grin.

'Will we ever meet again without fighting some petty foe?', he asks, turning in the air to face her. The Adaptoids fire at his shield and claw at it but Victor is unfazed and merely tilts his head in curiosity.

'Er..' Natasha doesn't know what to say to that. Why would she meet with a villain? Who had helped her. And had proven every bit as reformed as he claimed. Aaand might still have a plan up his sleeve. Furthermore, calling the Adaptoids 'petty'? What the hell? Has she missed something? Natasha has trouble keeping up with the Adaptoids who now try to imitate Doom's magic blasts though they hardly match their intensity. 'As soon as Jarvis is sprouting legs and goes looking for a girlfriend.', she retorts, barely missing a beat. And the most important question of all, why would Victor von Doom want to meet with her?

Victor chuckles when he turns back to the fight. 'Then I will make sure that we continue to meet like this until that fateful day.'

'As if I would need your help.', Natasha scoffs. One of the attackers gets through her defense and hits her with all his not inconsiderable strength.

'I didn't assume that. But I was bored and you looked like you wouldn't mind.', he explains while blasting one of the androids out of the sky. Natasha manages to physically overwhelm one by shooting of its head. She should feel offended but then again, she doesn't mind the help. Not that she will admit to needing it.

'And if I did?' No need to let him know.

'Then I would still assist you in your valiant fight against the powers of the evil forces.' He grins. 'I heard that this practice is accepted between heroes.'

She tuts. 'What would you happen to know about that?', Nat asks while they fight the remaining androids.

She catches sight of a mischievous twinkle in Victor's eye. 'And you?'

XXXXX

'Whoa, that was close.'

Jack Hart sounds awed, fascinated and altogether like an overeager teenager.

'You need to be faster if you want to fight with us.', Natasha scolds Jack when he misses her with one of his blasts. He was supposed to hit her, she had modified her armor after all and donned an older version which he wouldn't be able to meld off her. Jack may have his qualms but he needs to get over that when Nat tells him it is alright. The older armor is sturdier but also slows her down considerably. The arc has to work hard to keep it moving and she would probably have problems with it if it wouldn't be for the additional power sources. All in all, Nat is glad she came up with the lighter design. It offers more maneuverability and that makes more than up for the lost protection.

Jack huffs and pulls down his mask. 'You know I can beat the bad guys. I proved that, Miss Stark.', he insists, crossing his arms as he hovers some meters above the ground. The other practicing targets still move. Natasha stops them with a wave of her hand.

'Jack, seriously, that is not all it takes.' She crosses her arms as well and tries to look stern and unswayable as possible. Damn, she starts to act and sound like Howard did. With a sigh she lands on the ground to not stress her heart any further than need be. Jack follows her example.

'I know I blew it. But I read all the files and next time I will be prepared.'

'First, you didn't blow anything. You wanted to catch a villain and that failed and you won't leave a teammate alone in a war zone again. So, lesson learned I guess. And b), you need to make mistakes to learn. God knows, I made a lot. I just don't want you to regret anything for the rest of your life.', she sighs. Why again does she need to be the responsible adult? 'Cap thinks you should join us for the next call,' Jack already starts whooping and doesn't really listen to her, 'given that it is not too dangerous.' Nat can't but grin at his enthusiasm. It's like watching a puppy jumping up and down when its master returns after a week-long journey. In between Attuma and now there fortunately had been no attacks except the one from Hammer. Despite the time having passed, Jack hadn't fully gotten over his supposed failing her as a teammate and Steve hadn't taken a long time to think it over when Jack asked for a day of shore leave (just at the perfect time to leave Nat alone with the Adaptoids).

'Of course, I'm going to be careful and everything. Thank you, Miss Stark.' Jack grins like a Cheshire cat. He jumps closer and hugs her in his joy. Natasha is too shocked to do more than press out, 'We aren't that far yet, kid.', and lightly shove him away.

No getting attached anymore, that had been the plan. He is a hotheaded fool who will get himself in any danger he can if that means saving just one damned cat's life. She feels almost like a motherly figure for Jack who had lost both his parents not too long ago. Maybe that is what the boy is looking for. But Nat had lost too much already, had seen too many friends die or get hurt, had lost too many of them for two lifetimes. Nevertheless she finds herself care for the young man in the heart splattered tights. She feels responsible for him, maybe like a caretaker would which is ridiculous. He is old enough to take care of himself.

'Sorry, Miss Stark.' Jack let's go of her, still grinning.

'Yeah, yeah. Go and thank Steve for this, not me.', she mutters darkly, waving him away with her hand. Jack looks for a second like he would object and want to continue training but something on her face must have dissuaded him for he leaves. Damn. Angry Nat hits the release switches of her armor so she can take off the other plates and get out of the heavy armor. Her back pops when she stretches.

She should join her team for dinner but there is still a lot of work to be done, so she walks to her own floor instead of the communal area and flops down on the sofa. Jarvis draws up a news cast to inform her of the day.

Natasha closes her eyes as she listens to the world's problems and thinks about her own. The world seems to be in order as far as she can tell, no monsters attack any city, nothing she or the Avengers can change. In her youth she had never really cared about any of this. Unfortunately as a hero she has to know what happens outside of her laboratory. At least that's what the others claim, so whatever.

She almost misses the end of the newscast. Nat half expects a special someone to show up immediately to explain the situation. 'The temporary Latverian government hasn't been able to calm the conflict. Now to our correspondent in Moskow. John, how does..'

Nat can't and doesn't want to listen to that. She cuts the power to the TV and sits down with her tablet to get some work done. There are Avengers files that need to be updated, then there are business plans and contracts she has to look over for Pepper, the meeting she was supposed to prepare for ages ago, the latest changes and upgrades in the suits on hers and the others'.. And people wonder why she has to sleep in to compensate. Natasha stretches her back before setting off to work.

Why should she care about Latveria?

XXXXX

It is the early morning when Nat walks into the kitchen to grab a coffee for herself. Jarvis had filled her private stack again but she is also hungry and doesn't feel like cooking or eating just toast. Jay had told her Bruce had made some scrambled eggs and Nat is positive she can get him to make her a plate as well.

The doctor looks up from his newspaper. 'You're up early.', he notes, not sounding surprised at all.

'Haven't slept yet.', she gives back with a smile. There had been an interesting development with her projects which had kept her awake. Fortunately Bruce had already prepared a pot of coffee for her. She downs the first scalding hot mug of coffee, then sits down next to her science bro.

'You worked on?', Bruce asks with a raised eyebrow. He had joined her yesterday afternoon for some experiments. When he had left, she had promised to go to bed as well. Well. Things got interesting when her brain had kicked into overdrive and came up with some other ideas that needed immediate testing. 'You could have called me back.'

Nat waves him off. 'Nah. You need your sleep.'

'You too.'

'Touche.' Bruce shakes his head at her. Nat's gaze is drawn down to his plate which is still rather full. Apparently Bruce got distracted by the news. 'Are you still eating that?', she asks. Wordless he shoves the plate to her and concentrates again on his newspaper. 'You realize we have no need of paper anymore, right? ', Nat notes while chewing on her eggs. 'It is a waste, Jay can tell you everything you need to know.'

'But I like reading on paper.', he gives back without looking up.

'Because paper totally has a future.', Nat scoffs, wolfing down the rest of Bruce's breakfast.

'There is a revolte in Doom's country.. ', Bruce muses after some minutes in silence. His eyes are still fixed on the paper.

Nat shrugs, drinking some more coffee to fight sleep. 'So what? The people finally realize what a bastard he is. About time.', she mutters.

'But he doesn't rule them anymore, for some time now as you well know. You can say what you want about Victor von Doom but he made sure his people were safe and sound and didn't kill each other. The rebels overthrow every try of the new government to work.'

'That's not our problem. We fight villains, not civilians who are frightened. We don't rule them, they have to find their way alone to be free of dictatorship.', she retorts.

Bruce shrugs though he is astonished by Natasha's reaction as she can see from the small crease between his eyebrows. 'Yeah, you're right. Nevertheless. In his own way..'

'He suppressed them, Bruce, there is no other way of putting it.', Nat snaps, standing up in a rush. What has this all to do with her? Of course she knows the disturbances in Latveria are getting worse with every day and she would love to believe it is just an expression of the new won freedom and that the country isn't tearing itself apart. The truth is, no matter how bad it might get over there, the Avengers have no power. It would be an invasion.

'Yes. Of course.' Natasha rolls her eyes. Bruce, always the peace loving evader. After that she finally goes to bed to catch up at least a little of sleep.

Natasha can't have slept longer than a few hours when a strange noise wakes her. She sits up in bed, staring at the dark walls. Her gaze is drawn to the figure standing near the doorway, having its arms raised in surrender. She blinks when the lights are turned on. Victor von Doom stands in her bedroom, dressed in a suit with a black cloak over it. His expression is grave and somehow insecure.

'I need you help, Stark.', he pleads.

Natasha stares at him for a moment, then hears herself say: 'What do you need?'


End file.
